


"Sorry, That Bill Is Actually Cursed."

by demigods_rule55



Series: weird [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Attempt at Humor, Coffee Shops, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26894275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demigods_rule55/pseuds/demigods_rule55
Summary: "Hi, welcome to Bright Moon! What can I get for ya today?""The souls of the innocent.""..Okay, and what would you like on top of that?"***Catra manages a small coffee shop called Bright Moon's Café as a favour to some old family friends. She's pretty sure this old lady who makes absurd requests is really just witch who likes to test the patience of young mortals.It didn't matter in the long run, though. She liked running the café, and she didn't mind having a crazy regular that made her smile.***"Sorry, could you give me a sec?""Hiya! My mom came in here earlier today and left a $100 tip?""..Razz? You're Razz's daughter?""Yes, her! Well, it turns out, she paid you with a bill from her cursed purse, she wanted me to exchange it with this one.""Oh, that explains why my hand has been stuck in this plastic coffee cup for the past two hours."***She also didn't mind her beautiful daughter who looked like she could probably throw Catra across the room with one arm coming around to save her life every once in a while.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Angella/Micah (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Series: weird [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991398
Comments: 114
Kudos: 541





	1. what would you like?

**Author's Note:**

> hi I'm new here :/
> 
> if you read this thank you soooo much i haven't posted a fanfic in YEARS but catradora just hit different
> 
> this concept was inspired by two tired seniors ignoring their problems and instead fantasizing abt what it would be like to be paid minimum wage and work at tims while falling in love with the daughter of the witch that frequents your shop <3 I hope you enjoy

Catra Weaver has seen some weird shit.

When she was young, she was living on the streets with some other kids. That’s as much as she can remember before Weaver found them and took them in.

Lonnie dared her to sneak into Ms. Weaver's office once, which is where she first realized what it really meant to be truly disgusted and horrified. To this day she doesn't know exactly what all those jars were for, or why she had demonic masks laying around, or where that screeching noise that had no real source was coming from, because as soon as she left the office, she bolted to her room and tried to repress all the memories of those awful few minutes she spent stuck in that monster’s workspace. What her work was, Catra could only guess.

***

**_9:09 am_ **

It was her first day working alone, and she didn’t want to let Casta down. It was a small shop, but it was quite popular with the locals. Casta was all the way in – well, she wasn’t actually sure, but she was too far away to help Catra if something went wrong. The lies she was given were, in order: Oregon, New Orleans, and New York. She didn’t bother trying to figure out which one was even close to true.

The truth was, no doubt, too complicated, too messy, and too _otherworldly_ for her to know. Catra didn’t let her limited knowledge of this magical world bother her too much, any problem that came from it seemed to resolve itself before normal people began to question it, and none of them had ever affected her _personally_ , so she didn’t much care.

Well. Except for that one time. Before the Bright’s found her. The reason she never went deeper into the world of sorcery.

The bell jingled with customers and she leapt into action.

“Hello! Welcome to Bright Moon café. Can I help you?”

One iced coffee with extra base, a hot chocolate, and an apple danish to go, no problem.

**_9:43 am_ **

“Hi, there! What can I get for you today?”

A little kid who was by himself at the counter, his father watching from the back, ordered a Boston Crème donut, amazing choice as always.

**_10:31 am_ **

“Hello, what can I help you with today?”

A group of teenagers ordering two boxes of a dozen donuts, showing no intention of wanting to eat them. She wasn’t sure what they were going to do and she wasn’t eager to find out, which is what she told them when she handed the boxes over and informed them that if they were going to make a mess, they better do it away from the shop so they didn’t drive away customers.

**_11:01 am_ **

On and on it went, until she could hang the small sign saying _“On a break right now! Be back at 11:30.”_

**_11:23 am_ **

“Hey Casta! How’s the trip going?”

_“Oh, I’ve picked up my brother and his daughter, we’re going to, um, spend some time… visiting our parents?”_

“Your parents, huh?”

_“Yes. Of course. What else would we do?”_

“Hm. Nothing. Just saying, you’ve never mentioned them before. Where was it they live again?’

_“…New Castle?”_

“Right. Anyways, I’m on break right now but I should be getting back to it, so good luck with whatever sorcery bullshit your family has gotten into now. Try not to get hurt, or whatever, because technically I’m not related to you, so I won’t inherit the shop if you die.”

_“…thank you.”_

***

**Years Ago**

She did find out what was in at least _one_ of those jars. She wished she hadn’t.

"Come on! I dare you!"

"I’ve already went once, it's your turn."

"Er, that is not actually how dares work, Catra…”

"I don't care how dares work, Rogelio, I'm not going back in there!"

"W-we could just play, uhh, cha-ra-days?”

“I, er, think you mean _Charades_ , Kyle.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kyle.”

“Kyle, I swear to God, if you say one more dumbass thing—”

“What! I’m just trying to _help_ you!”

“By suggesting we play _cha-ra-days?_ No! I’d rather keep playing this stupid game.”

Catra sighed and pushed her headband back. She really had no desire to enter that room again; curiosity killed the cat, right? There was no need to find out why the masks seemed to follow her every move, why the jars clinked against each other despite no one touching them, oh god was there something alive in there? Was that screeching noise a person? The way they – or _it,_ there was always a possibility it wasn’t human – was howling, Catra very much doubted it would stay alive for long.

“I _triple dog dare_ you,” Lonnie said to her, once more.

“No fucking way. Absolutely fucking not. I was in that room for less time than I was in the closet, yet I’d rather go back to pretending I’m straight than into that horrible office. Something in there is _not right!_ ”

“If you go, I’ll give you my snacks for a whole week,” Lonnie gleefully smiled. She was a bit younger than her, but Lonnie was stronger, and more liked by Kyle and Rogelio. Which meant if Catra got into a fight with her by refusing to do this, she would probably lose, and they would probably leave her alone for a while. The idea was tempting – being on her own, she was more comfortable, she didn’t have to talk, she didn’t have to play these stupid games that were meant to be “bonding exercises”, as Scorpia would say.

But the offer of snacks made her weak. There wasn’t a lot of things she liked, she could count them on one hand – she liked heights, she liked throwing shit at Kyle, she liked Scorpia (sometimes), and those grey breakfast bars that _looked_ like they should suck but were actually the best thing she’d ever had.

“Two weeks,” Catra blurted out before she could stop herself. “…and you need to show me how you climbed that tree with the yellow leaves.”

“YES! Deal!”

“Fine. So, I go in there again, just like before, and what?”

“Bring back proof of stuff that’s in there.”

“ _Ugh_. It’s really creepy, though. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Alright! So Catra goes in there, gets some proof of the creepy stuff that’s in there, Kyle keeps a lookout for Weaver, if she comes back I’ll break my arm as a distraction and Catra jumps out the window, where Rogelio will be standing to catch her so she can escape. Any objections?”

Rogelio coughed. “Last time, Scorpia was the one who stood outside the window, but she is at that garden camp thing, remember? What if I cannot catch her?”

“Bring a mattress with you if you’re concerned, but my aim is pretty good.” Catra sighed. “Plus, if I miss, I die, so win-win situation here.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, it’s not that high. But if you break a leg at the same time I break my arm, Weaver might get suspicious, so Rogelio, take a mattress with you. Any other objections?”

Rogelio grunted. Lonnie tapped her fingers against the floor on which they were all sitting. For a while, it was silent, and Catra was about to get up and put their plan into action, when Kyle piped up.

“G-guys, this is sorta a bad idea…”

“Oh come _on,_ Kyle, what’s so bad about it? We even have a plan B in case Weaver comes back.”

“Well, for one thing, plan B involves you _breaking your arm_!”

“So?”

“Are you _kidding me_ , am I the _only one_ here with even a _little_ bit self-preservation skills?”

“What skills? Last week you almost cracked your head open on the stairs.”

“ _Because you pushed me!”_

“Details are unimportant. Oh, who’s mattress are we going to use? We’re gonna have to take it outside, it might get dirty.”

The decision was unanimous. Kyle would be sleeping on the floor that night.

***

**_11:46 am_ **

A man who looked like he hadn’t slept in days came in. His clothes were covered in ash and he was wearing a red bandana. He ordered three banana muffins. He didn’t blink once during his entire wait. Unlike most customers, instead of being on his phone while waiting for his order, he stared blankly at the table. He put some change in the tip jar and walked backwards to one of the tables. After finishing his muffins, he fell asleep.

Catra decided to play a game called “let’s see what it takes to wake him up”.

**_11:56 am_ **

Catra cleaned dishes very loudly. She had made about five TikTok’s at his expense. She even sang a very bad rendition of Into the Unknown _twice_. Still fast asleep.

**_12:02 pm_ **

She googled him, mostly to find out why he was covered in ash. For all Catra knew, she was accidentally harboring a fugitive _again._ She found his Instagram, it wasn’t hard – she just googled “fires in my area” and he was the first guy to show up. For someone who named themselves _Sea_ Hawk, this dude sure did like arson.

**_12:21 pm_ **

Catra was in the middle of balancing yet _another_ napkin dispenser on the sleeping man’s back when the bell jingled again. A blue-haired girl who looked like she was done with everyone’s shit that Catra recognized from Sea Hawk’s Instagram photos had entered the shop. She took one glance at Catra adjusting five napkin dispensers and twenty sugar packets on top of the guy Catra assumed was her boyfriend, smirked, took a photo, and walked out without saying anything.

**_1:23 pm_ **

Catra was considering dropping a bucket of water on Sea Hawk. Revenge for all the things he set fire to.

Around this time, not many people came around. Bright Moon was busiest during the morning, and the slowest at noon. Because she was by herself, Casta had given her permission to close up at 3:00.

**_1:34 pm_ **

A little old lady entered the shop. She was a character, to say the least. She had big round glasses and was carrying a broomstick that served as a walking stick. She had leaves and sticks in her hair, but they looked oddly in place with her.

Catra wasn’t fazed by this get up. In fact, she barely glanced at her twice. Madame Razz, she said her name was. It fit.

***

**Years Ago**

It happened later that day.

Weaver left to do whatever it was she did. Every day, she would be there when they would leave for school in the morning but be gone by the time they came back. They wouldn’t see her again till 6:25PM on the dot, when she would enter their room, inform them of whatever events they needed to be aware of, and go to her office. Then, right at 7:00PM, she would leave once again, to do what, no one knew. On weekends, they didn’t see her at all. Whether she was in her office or had gone out was unclear.

None of the kids knew anything about Weaver other than she gave them food and shelter, but no warmth and affection. She drove them to after school events, and paid for any supplies they needed, and if they’d been extra good that week, sometimes she would let them go see a movie by themselves. It was better that way, Catra supposed, when she first met the woman she was terrified of her, of the way she could possibly harm Catra and her… she wanted to say friends but Kyle was a nuisance at best. But instead all they got was absolute apathy. Weaver never asked her anything beyond what she wanted for dinner, and Catra never asked her anything at all.

If it weren’t for Scorpia and her mothers’ next door, Catra, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio would have no clue what a healthy family looked like.

Once, Kyle asked where she got those scars on the bottom half of her face from. That day… did not end well for any of them, and it had proved Catra was right. Better apathy than whatever she was that night. Was Weaver even a _she?_ They were all 99% sure that Weaver was some kind of demon. Nothing else could explain why she never ate, never slept, never drank (never drank _water_ , apparently whatever she was, she had a taste for wine), and why she could move like a ghost sometimes. Catra swore that for those 30 minutes she was in her office after speaking to them, everything in the world became darker and quieter. Even the others would be silent and wait until she had left before they began their games and tricks.

When Weaver left, it took them a few minutes to recover from whatever negative energy she had brought into their lives. Then, Kyle went to stand at the door and watch if Weaver’s car pulled back onto the street. Lonnie and Rogelio took his mattress down and out of the house and placed it beneath the window. Lonnie came back and gave Catra the thumbs up before going to her room, ready to throw herself against the wall and dislocate her shoulder if necessary.

Catra took a deep breath and entered the office.

It was dark. It was always dark. There was no light switch, and even if there was, Catra wasn’t sure she would _want_ to turn it on and see everything. The back half of the room was separated by a curtain.

Unfortunately for her, Catra could still see in the dark. She could see everything in the room, except for what was beyond the thick, black curtain. 

The three identical demonic masks she had seen last time were hanging on the wall right beside the window, the wind slightly moving the old, brown sheet that served as the only barrier between the room and the cold. They seemed brighter. Well, brighter wasn’t the right word to describe it. When she had gone in last time, the masks were cracked and dulled, but right now, they looked new and shiny, like Weaver had just polished them.

Maybe that was what she did? Devil mask repairs? The thought of Weaver using a paintbrush and magnifying glass to fix some child’s Halloween costume was too ridiculous for Catra to consider it any further.

The closer she got to the masks, the more they seemed to draw her in. Catra found herself staring at the crystals that were embedded into the forehead of the mask, and went closer, wanting to touch one. As soon as she did, she felt that same negative energy surrounding her again, the kind that she only ever felt when Weaver was home.

Ha. If you could even call it a home.

She flinched and recoiled, trying to recover. It felt like red-hot electricity had spread from her finger to the rest of her shoulder. She felt a presence in the room, like someone was in there with her.

The thought made anxiety pool in her stomach. Had Weaver come back? Why didn’t Kyle say anything? Should she jump? Why was Lonnie not screaming after breaking her wrist to buy Catra some time?

More importantly, why did looking at all three masks make her feel like there were six white eyes staring into her soul?

She poked her head out of the door to get some fresh air, and called out in a small voice that was so unlike herself, “Lonnie? Is everything good?”

Lonnie confirmed that Weaver wasn’t home. Catra noted that as soon as she stopped looking at those masks, everything felt fine again. She tested her theory, staring at the masks then looking outside the dark room, walking into the room then jumping back out. Lonnie, annoyed that it was taking her so long to grab something and move on, yelled, “Everything is _fine!_ If anything happens, Kyle will scream. YOU GOT THAT, KYLE?”

The sudden yelp downstairs and the sound of something falling over confirmed that Kyle did, in fact, hear Lonnie.

“Oh… alright…” Catra went back inside the room. Now that she knew how looking at those masks would make her feel, she did her best to pretend they didn’t exist. Her original plan was to grab one of the masks, but given that there were only three, and apparently they were important to Weaver, given that she seemed to put more attention and care into them than she did to the kids living in her house, taking one of the masks was out of the question.

Catra didn’t want to risk messing up the table that was set up at the entrance of the room. It was bad enough she had touched the mask; she didn’t want to leave any evidence that she had ever been in here. There was absolutely _no way_ she was going behind the curtain. The screeching noise she had heard the first time had stopped, but that didn’t mean whatever was making it was gone.

So. Jars were the only logical option.

There were plenty of them, and whatever was in them was making squelching and rattling noises, which meant if Catra found something gross enough, maybe Lonnie would never dare her to come in here again.

Logically, it made sense for her to pick up the most horrible one. If she found something terrible enough, maybe Kyle would faint, which was always fun to watch. With this logic in her mind, she reached for one of the four black jars on the second highest shelf, the ones labeled _Light_ , the ones that Catra thought was a misnomer because of the dark ash that sat inside of the jars, the one that sent _chills_ down Catra’s spine just looking inside it.

Catra often looks back at herself in that moment and thinks, _what the hell was I thinking?_ , because no amount of “logic” could explain the chain of events that followed her picking up that damn jar, so no amount of “logic” should’ve been able to justify the chain events that preceded her taking that damn jar.

The… _disaster,_ guess that’s the only way to put it, happened in three parts.

She was walking back out the door with her selection of black ash. Kyle screamed.

Now, Catra likes to consider herself a pretty smart person. Most people wouldn’t be able to make sense of the odd events that take place in her life. Most people wouldn’t be able to commit the amount of federal crimes she has at her age and not be in prison for it.

So Catra, for the life of her, does not understand how in that moment, all intelligence left her brain, and instead of running out the door she was _less than two feet away from_ , and going back into the safety of her own room, _she bolted out the window instead._

She fell onto the mattress. Someone screamed again. She could hear Lonnie yelling, and she felt Rogelio pick her up.

The window was pretty big, but her arm caught on the brown curtain as she leapt out. Thankfully, Kyle’s mattress provided a somewhat soft landing. In her left hand she was clutching the jar to her chest, and she felt it dig into her ribs. The right side of her body was partially tangled in the brown curtain and she felt shooting pains in her toes. Looking down, she realized while most of her body landed on the mattress, her foot was dangling off and had not been protected from slamming into the cement. Catra couldn’t bear to look at it for too long after seeing the blood.

So, part 1: she jumped out the window, broke three of her toes, and tore out the brown curtain.

Turns out, Weaver hadn’t made it back home, but Kyle had screamed anyways because someone else’s car had pulled into the driveway. _Fucking Kyle._ The people that had arrived weren’t even _scary._

Which brings us to part 2: Castaspella, and her older brother, Micah, had come to see Weaver. Why exactly, Catra’s still not sure. She decided she was better off not knowing.

Rogelio carried Catra into the living room. He was silent, as always, while assessing the situation.

Catra had stolen something of Weaver’s for fun. Catra jumped out a window. Catra still had the brown sheet wrapped around half of her body. Catra was still holding a weird jar of ash. Catra’s toes were broken. But Catra was not the main problem at the moment.

Lonnie was holding a knife, for some reason, and Kyle was hiding behind her. In front of them was a tall, strong man, holding a weird staff, dressed in some sort of purple, glow-y armour, who looked like he was out for blood. The lady, on the other hand, was wearing a sweater she had clearly knitted herself that said “best aunt ever!!” and looked very disinterested in what was happening. The man was demanding to speak to _Shadow Weaver._

Catra made an executive decision to save herself. Well, herself and Rogelio since he was the one carrying her.

Catra may have been young but it felt like she’d aged 35 years just from being in that horrible room. She had no patience for whatever bullshit this _Shadow_ Weaver was involved in. Especially if it had something to with why that guy’s staff was glowing, because at this point, Catra was pretty sure she had been drugged.

“Listen, I don’t know what the fuck you want, but if you’re here to kill us, get it over with already. If you want money, tough luck – we’re all broke as shit. Rogelio, take me upstairs.”

No one in the room said anything. There were two adults in the room dressed like absolute fools and four teenagers, one of which was armed and ready to fight. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t going to end well, and they could all sense it.

So Rogelio took her upstairs, and she made him fix the brown curtain. Sure, she had to give up her two weeks of snacks to him, but it was a worthy sacrifice. She wanted no evidence that she’d been in there. Catra was still clutching the jar of ash to her chest, thoughts of what that man could possibly want, when she heard “best aunt ever!!” and the staff dude coming down the hall, talking. She tried to focus on what they were saying.

“…aver stole these homeless kids ….she could draw power from their innocence… light magic again… kids are getting older and the innocence is fading, so she’s losing power. Again! And even when these kids were at their most innocent, she didn’t have enough power to come back...”

Oh, while that answered so many of Catra’s questions about Weaver, it also raised so many more.

Catra tried to pay attention to what they were saying once again. They were both silent for a bit, and Catra could hear some murmuring. Then, they entered the room where Rogelio had just finished pinning the curtain back over the window. Micah’s staff was pointed at the masks. Oh _God._ Those masks.

The two continued on like Catra and Rogelio weren’t in the room, which seemed kind of rude, but the adrenaline was fading and Catra was starting to feel the pain in her foot. If that weren’t bad enough, she heard one of the most terrifying things she’d ever heard in her life.

_“WHAT HAVE YOU INSOLENT CHILDREN DONE?”_

“Rogelio!” she hissed. “Get us out of here!”

Rogelio grabbed her by the hands and dragged her out of the room. He even made it all the way to the stairs before part three happened.

If Rogelio had been a little bit faster, if Catra had told him to save himself and leave her in the room with those sorcerers… Maybe Catra could go to sleep at night easier.

Maybe.

Because at the bottom of the stairs, coming – no, _floating_ towards them with black shadows swirling around her, with malicious intent so clear in her _not-eyes,_ was _Shadow Weaver._ She could hear Lonnie and Kyle run out the door screaming. She felt Rogelio’s grip on her loosen as he dropped her on the floor and bolted. She doesn’t know where he could have gone, all she knows is that as soon as he ran, Shadow Weaver’s attention turned to her. She reached a hand out, and Catra felt the same red-hot electricity from the mask shock her entire system. She laid there, paralyzed by fear or pain she wasn’t sure, as Shadow Weaver left her there and went into the room with the sorcerers.

Catra blacked out after that. She woke up twice.

The first time, she opened her eyes and saw Shadow Weaver wearing one of the masks, and to her horror, the mask _melted_ into her skin and became a part of her flesh. She screamed in fear and felt herself be pulled away by someone. The second time, she didn’t open her eyes, but she felt the engine of a car beneath her, and a type of warmth filled her chest from where it had been bruised by the jar, to all the way down where she had broken her toes, and spread throughout her body until all the pain from Shadow Weaver’s electricity fade. She heard someone say, “It’s okay, you’re safe now.”, and she let herself fall back asleep.

Catra still has nightmares about that night. The way Shadow Weaver’s face blended into that horrible red and black, how her eyes rolled into the back of her head and became a soulless white. One thing was for sure, Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio had finally gotten their confirmation that Weaver wasn’t human at all. She was, by all means, a true demon.

Needless to say, Catra never saw any of them again.

***

So, Catra has seen some weird shit in her life.

That certainly wasn’t the only weird story she had, but it was by far the worst.

Once, in college, she left class early and when she got back to her dorm room, she caught her roommate sprawled on top of a man in the middle of the hallway. It wasn’t really such a weird thing to come back to, if it weren’t for the fact that the man was half-dead and when her roommate looked up, Catra could see she’d had fangs two inches deep in the man’s neck. They stared at each other a while, Catra’s mismatched eyes looking directly into her red ones. She recognized the man as the professor that was accused of assault but never convicted. After about a minute, Catra went back to her room to take a nap, and the next day her roommate apologized promised to be discreet if she did it again. The blood didn’t stain the carpet. The professor was declared missing. They never spoke of it again.

Catra liked to think that all of the weird shit she’d been through had prepared her for this moment.

All the monsters, demons, sorcerers, that weird ghost thing that haunts her at night and steals her favourite tea, prepared her for Razz’s order.

"Hi, welcome to Bright Moon! What can I get for ya today?"

" ** _The souls of the innocent_** ," Razz said, in a voice that did _not_ fit her.

Catra froze for only a second. The souls of the innocent? Her mind flashed back to the disaster that led her to meet Casta. _Innocence. Light magic._

If Razz wanted to consume innocent souls, Razz couldn’t possibly be a good person, right? Oh no, was Catra going to almost die _again?_

Catra glanced up for a second. She looked into Razz’s eyes. They sparkled as they waited for Catra’s response.

_Oh, this is a game._

Catra entered _everything bagel_ into the machine.

"..Okay, and what would you like on top of that?"

Razz’s smile grew so big and wide, for a second Catra worried she had done something wrong. But Razz’s eyes… they sparkled with something else. Something _good._ Something Catra had only ever seen in the eyes of Micah’s daughter, Glimmer. _Light Magic._

“ ** _Tears of children._** ”

“Hm. Toasted with cream cheese, then.”

Razz hummed, seemingly satisfied with Catra’s options. Catra rang her up, and went to go toast her bagel. When she handed it to her, Razz swung her broomstick to her other hand to reach for her purse, and Catra noticed the barely-there sparkles that swirled through the air with it. She gave Catra exact change for the bagel, then dug back into her purse and pulled out a $100 note. She dropped it in the tip jar and left the shop.

“Huh,” Catra grinned. “That was interesting.”

Across the room, one of the napkin dispensers fell off of Sea Hawk’s back.

He still didn’t wake up.

***

This happened every day.

Razz would come in, right at 1:34, and order something weird in a voice that _definitely_ didn’t belong to her. Catra would do her best to guess what Razz might be in the mood for, and so far, Razz always approved of what Catra would decide for her.

Ridiculously, some of Razz’s nonsense started to make sense to Catra?

Razz would say, “ **the blood of a virgin twice killed** ”, and Catra would automatically respond “So, something hot but not too sweet, alright, I’ll make you a cappuccino with light cinnamon and no sugar?”, and Razz would hum again, and pay in exact change, then leave a $100 tip, and Catra would only process what the fuck Razz had said to her after she had already left the café.

Whatever the Bright family was up to, it was taking much longer than usual. Catra had been on her own for over two weeks now. She ended up needing to hire two new employees to help her around, as Casta and her… _skills_ did most of the work before.

Catra bribed Entrapta into applying by giving her access to _all_ of the machines within the café, so long as she promised to only make them more efficient and not blow anything up. The only other applicant was Sea Hawk, and while she found him amusing at times, she couldn’t have him setting the table on fire because he saw his girlfriend and wanted her attention.

Sea Hawk came in with his application three times.

“No.”

“But- “

“No, Ocean Eagle.”

The second time, he brought Mermista with him.

“Still no.”

“Please?”

“UGGGGGGHHHH she said NO can we LEAVE now?”

The third time, he brought a _torch._

“OH MY GOD. IF I SAY YES WILL YOU LEAVE?”

“As long as I can start bright an early tomorrow!”

“FINE ALRIGHT SEE YOU AT TEN, NOW GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE YOU BURN THIS PLACE DOWN, WE DON’T HAVE INSURANCE.”

***

Entrapta and Sea Hawk were surprisingly good at their jobs. Sea Hawk was a people-person (when he wasn’t committing arson) and Entrapta was very quick with orders.

Still, Catra made sure that she would be at the cash register between 1:00 and 2:00, just so she could be the one to take Razz’s order. Partly because she was the only one who would understand, mostly because Razz was entertaining to talk to.

Over the last couple of days, Razz’s voice had gone back to what Catra assumes is normal. She sound more like a frail old lady and less like Lucifer was speaking through her. Razz still made no attempt to make a proper order, she would come in and start talking, and Catra would guess what she wanted, and Razz would happily take it. But now that Razz could talk normally, she could actually have a conversation with her. It was a shock the first time Catra heard her say something that didn’t sound like an ingredient for a spell to bring someone back from the dead.

“Hello again. What will it be this day, blood of children? Tears of a virgin? Or is it the other way around…”

“Madame Razz requires no such things today, dearie! Razz already has a pie waiting for her at home but she had to come see you. You told her to come back and see you, so here Razz is!”

“….Ah. Okay, you’re speaking! What would you like?”

“Hmm… something that will keep the bugs away but the plants free!”

She sighed. “How about a vegan donut with red sprinkles?”

Razz clapped. Paid $2.00 in change. Left $100 tip.

***

Razz looked like she lived in a house in the woods.

“Razz, where do you get all these hundred dollar notes from? What do you do for a living?”

Razz chuckled darkly. “Don’t ask questions you can’t handle the answers to, dearie.”

She tipped $150 that day.

***

Something else odd happened that day.

Catra had always collected Razz’s tip from the jar and put them in her pouch. As sweet as Razz was, Catra didn’t want anyone noticing that this small, seemingly defenseless woman was loaded and following her home. Catra was sure Razz could handle herself, one time Razz was being bothered by a fly, and in one swift movement, her broomstick collided with the fly so hard and fast, Catra wasn’t sure it’s corpse was still in this universe. But she’d rather spare Razz the trouble of having to murder some 14-year-old asshole whose friends dared him to do something stupid.

The odd thing that happened was, after Razz left and she collected the money, everything around Catra seemed to decide to stop functioning properly.

First, her elbow somehow knocked over a stack of cups. When she reached down to pick them, her other hand that was still on the counter managed to knock over the bucket of utensils that she could’ve sworn were nowhere _near_ her hand. While she was recovering from being assaulted by a fucking spoon, the hand she was using to pick up the stack of cups had somehow gone _inside_ one of the cups and couldn’t pull it off. She tried to stand up but she bumped her head on the edge of the counter and collapsed back onto the floor, groaning.

As if all that wasn’t enough, she heard the bell jingle once more.

A regular, Perfuma. She wanted two lemonades. Who knows, maybe she even got them.

Catra’s right hand was stuck in a coffee cup. Perfuma didn’t comment on it, she was nice like that. So Catra tried using her left hand to put the order in the system.

She tapped _drinks_ and her entire screen glitched, and then displayed an error code Catra had never seen before in her life. Entrapta had gone home for the day, Sea Hawk wouldn’t be back for another hour, and Catra didn’t know who Casta’s regular IT guy was.

_Fuck it, I’ll write down the orders and record them later._

But God said “no <3”.

Catra couldn’t find a pen. She searched as well as she could with only one hand available to her. There were just no pens.

She found a pencil, though as soon as she brought it back to write with, it broke.

So Catra decided to use a knife to sharpen it. After almost stabbing herself for the third time, Perfuma insisted that she take a little break and try to fix her technical problems. Which Catra agreed to, what a splendid idea, she’d call Sea Hawk and Entrapta, Sea Hawk could get this stupid thing off of her, Entrapta could get the stupid tablet working again--

Except, Catra couldn’t find her phone.

_Fuck._

***

Catra was sitting with her back against the counter, waiting for Sea Hawk to get back from his break so he could rescue her from boredom. The guy wasn’t the _best_ , but he was amusing, at least. The bell in the front of the shop jingled again. Catra realized she hadn’t actually hung up the sign that said they were on a break.

“Sorry, could you give me a sec?", Catra called out, scrambling to get back up and look professional. As professional as she could with her dominant hand hidden behind her back stuck in a coffee cup and a fork tangled in her hair. She was about to inform them that they were experiencing technical difficulties, ready to face the wrath of a boomer or the apologies of a zoomer, when– 

"Hiya! My mom came in here earlier today and left a $150 tip?"

Catra was so caught up in herself and the mess she had made, she hadn’t even glanced up at the customer yet.

Her first thought was, _gay._

Her second thought was, _daughter?_

Actually, her first thought when she locked eyes with Razz’s supposed daughter was that she’d never seen anyone like this before in her life.

By now it’s been well established that Catra Weaver has encountered some truly _weird_ shit.

It’s also been established that _weird_ is the word Catra uses to describe things that have to do with magic.

The warm, _weird_ energy she felt when Casta healed her that day. The much darker, much worse _weird_ feeling she would get when Shadow Weaver was home. The _weird_ vibes that she would get from Angella, constantly, and the _weird_ energy she felt coming from the room where Casta and Micah would be practicing spells. The _weird_ energy that told her there was more to Razz than meets the eye.

That’s always been the way Catra has felt about it. She asked Glimmer, once, why she felt so strange around her mother and sometimes her, too. Glimmer answered simply, “You feel magical.” Catra still didn’t understand it, but as Razz says, _“don’t ask questions you can’t handle the answer to.”_ Catra wasn’t sure she _wanted_ to understand what Glimmer meant.

But seeing this girl? Standing less than three feet away from her? For the first time, Catra understood how people could describe that _weird_ feeling she’d come to recognize as magic to be… well.

Catra finally understood what Glimmer meant when she said it felt _magical._

_Even for you, that’s pretty gay, Catra._

"..Razz? You're Razz's daughter?" Catra eventually managed to stutter out, realizing she had been staring at this girl for far too long. She wasn’t human, that was for sure. Maybe a regular person couldn’t tell beyond the fact that she looked built enough to crush someone’s skull like it was a can of soda, but as someone who grew up around the supernatural, Catra could tell, whatever this girl was, she was _ten times more powerful_ than anyone could give her credit for.

"Yes, her!” she exclaimed and snapped her fingers. It was kind of cute, how excited she got. “Well, it turns out, she paid you with a bill from her cursed purse, she wanted me to exchange it with this one." The girl said this with a smile, as if curses were things ordinary people dealt with. It was the same smile Razz wore the first time she came in and ordered the souls of the innocent as a lunchtime snack.

_So, her daughter wants to try me?_

"Oh, that explains why my hand has been stuck in this plastic coffee cup for the past two hours." Catra deadpanned, showing the girl her hand. “And why I got attacked by utensils,” Catra carefully pulled the fork out of her hair, “…and almost stabbed myself, and fell onto floor a couple times.”

The girl’s smile faltered for a bit, like she was expecting a different reaction. _Guess Razz hasn’t mentioned me then, huh?_

“Well? Are you gonna remove it? Or are you just gonna keep standing there looking like some sort of- “

Catra stopped herself before she could say _goddess._ What was wrong with her? “- idiot.”

Oh shit.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit.

Did she just call this maybe-goddess an idiot by accident?

To Catra’s surprise (and relief), the girl just laughed, dropped a hundred in the tip jar, and made her way around the counter. She grabbed Catra’s wrist and tried to gently pry the cup off of her hand. She twisted it and clawed at the edges of the cup, completely concentrated on the task at hand. Her tongue poked out of her mouth, Catra doesn’t think she even noticed, and her eyes focused onto the cup and wrist. The girl became impatient and just yanked the cup, with a little bit too much force than necessary, and while she did free Catra from becoming an urban legend about a café worker who had to have her hand cut off because she got it stuck in a coffee cup, she also ended up launching herself backwards, tripping over her own feet, and send herself crashing to the floor.

Catra just… watched her.

Catra was so fascinated by how close this girl had gotten to her, she’d stopped functioning. See, Catra had this medical condition that prevented her from acting normal if a pretty girl flustered her. It was known as _dumb gay bitch disease,_ and unfortunately, there was no cure. That, plus the fact that Razz’s magical daughter had the aura of Aphrodite – Catra didn’t stand a chance.

So when the girl went crashing down, and Catra’s body finally unfroze from having Razz’s beautiful daughter very gently cradle her wrist in her own hands, Catra’s body – _not_ Catra, she’s smarter than that – also went crashing to the floor to make sure Aphrodite didn’t feel bad.

Catra’s _actual mind_ reminded her body that she could’ve just said helped her up, made a joke about the girl _falling for her-_ or said something about never letting Sea Hawk mop the floors again, and told her about this crazy co-worker who committed arson in the name of love.

But _noooo_. Her body just dropped like a sack of potatoes on top of Aphrodite’s. And it felt fucking _terrifying_. It was like Catra had thrown herself into the sun. Every time Catra got close to Angella, or Razz, or even _Glimmer,_ she noticed the difference between being near a regular human like Bow. The air would buzz, something would feel _off,_ and although she’d never admit it, Catra would feel unsettled by them. She had never gotten _this_ close to an otherworldly creature. It shocked her for a good minute.

Both of them stayed like that for that minute. Aphrodite fumbled with the cup in her hands, unsure of what do with her hands, as Catra was laying directly on top of her. The good news was, she seemed just as shocked as Catra.

“Um, I meant the curse, not the cup?” Catra mumbled lamely. Aphrodite looked to the cup in her hands, then back to Catra’s face, then back at the cup making a small _“oh”_ with her mouth. Catra pushed herself off of Aphrodite and stood back up. To her amusement, this girl also seemed to suffer from _dumb gay bitch disease_ , because she stayed frozen on the floor for a good minute or so before she apparently remembered something and got back up at an inhumane speed.

“Oh! Right! The curse! The curse that you are currently cursed with. The bill curse. The curse Razz gave to you by accident. Razz’s curse, that she sent me here specifically to remove.”

While Aphrodite was rambling, she was also moving closer towards Catra. She cupped Catra’s face with both her hands and put her forehead on Catra’s. She could’ve said, _“At least buy me dinner, first,”_ and asked Aphrodite out on a date. The thought didn’t occur to her until after Razz’s daughter finished removing her curse, let go of Catra’s face, and was already on her way out of the glass door of the café.

“I’m Adora, by the way!” she said, leaning back into the shop. _Adora._ Okay. Aphrodite wasn’t too far off, right? “I’m new here, I’m gonna be staying with Razz from now on. I guess that means, you’ll see me around more often…?”

“Catra. My name is Catra.”

Adora smiled. “Well, you’ll be seeing more of me then, Catra.”

“I’ll see you around, then, Adora.”

“You too, Catra!”

_Adora._

Catra watched as Adora tripped over her own feet, _again,_ while walking down the road. Adora _literally_ stopped to smell the flowers that were planted at the end of the road, then turned around and walked straight into someone who was about to cross the road.

_Yeah. It fits._


	2. the souls of the innocent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra meets some new people! 
> 
> She hates them. 
> 
> And technically, they weren't so much 'people' as they were 'entities that fuck up her day'.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Entrapta, are you hacking into government databases again?"
> 
> Silence.
> 
> "Maybe."
> 
> ***
> 
> Perhaps the entities that were fucking up her day was the universe trying to make her stop committing crimes.
> 
> Well, the universe could suck it.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Do you want to get a drink?" ... "Maybe I should come over sometime."
> 
> ***
> 
> Because as long as Adora was still in her life, there was nothing the universe could do to bring her down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a lot going on but i PROMISE its all relevant ok there is a plot here!!
> 
> and thank you to everyone who commented and said nice things, im sorry i didn't respond but idk how to respond to compliments, i just kind of sit there and smile for a very long time trying not to cry
> 
> if i made any typos that bothered you i'm sorry, i write most of this at 2am, and trust me they're bothering me just as much, PLEASE point out any you see in this chapter so i can fix them 
> 
> and some of you asked questions that i shall attempt to answer in the end notes
> 
> anyways here's chapter 2! 
> 
> aka "Catra has a bad week"

***

**_Sunday, 10:43am_ **

_“Catra! I know you’re asleep but you need to get the FUCK up!!”_

Catra woke with a start. What happened? She couldn’t remember what she was dreaming about. A voice had yelled at her to wake up, and she did? Why would she do that? Over the years, sleep had become one of her top five favourite things to replace throwing shit at Kyle. The only person that had the audacity to wake her before she had to be up was Glimmer.

As if on cue, her phone rang, and Glimmer’s caller ID popped up on screen. Of fucking course Glimmer would enter her goddamn _dreams_ to bother her. As if that ghost that had been stealing her tea wasn’t enough.

She picked up, fully prepared to tell Glimmer to go fuck herself.

_“CA – RAH – EED – HELP!”_

Glimmer’s voice kept cutting out and coming through all garbled. Any thoughts of sleeping had completely slipped her mind. Catra was wide awake now and was clutching her phone, turning the volume up, as if that would make Glimmer’s voice clearer.

“Glimmer… GLIMMER! I can’t hear you! You need to text me!”

Catra repeated her message three times, waiting for some kind of confirmation that Glimmer had heard her, and then hung up on Glimmer. She opened her messages and waited for Glimmer to text her whatever about fuckery she had gotten herself into now.

_Typing…._

_Typing…_

_??_

_what do you want_

_Typing…_

_just send whatever tf you’re typing I can’t take this_

_BITCH DID YOU REALLY JUST FUCKING HANG UP ON ME? ITS AN EMERGENCY!!!_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_I MAY OR MAY NOT  
ABOUT TO DIE RN_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_ok lmao? what do you want me to do abt it?_

_Typing…_

_CATRA BE SERIOUS PLEASE  
CASTA HAS A WEIRD BOOK  
I JUST NEED YOU TO DO SEND ME A PICTURE OF PAGE 67_

It took Catra ten minutes to find the book. If Glimmer weren’t, as she said, _“DYING ATM”_ , she really would have cursed her out for being so vague about what she was talking about.

Catra figures Casta is some sort of scholar when it comes to magic and other nonsense, because she had so many weird books lying around the house. No one ever bothered actually explaining anything about themselves to her, but they weren’t exactly making a huge effort to keep their shit a secret from her, either. And Catra never made an attempt to find out what the hell was _actually_ going on because she decided that the less she knew, the better.

It took another ten minutes to find the page Glimmer wanted, because Catra never bothered with learning how to fucking read the language.

_ rgj58de4.jpeg _

_is this what you wanted_

_YESYESYESOK THANKS_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_IT WORKED! NO LONGER ABOUT TO DIE_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_o shit wait, me n bow are abt to jump over this huge cavern thing  
if you don’t hear from me in the next two hours, i died  
it was nice knowing you_

_ok_

***

**_Sunday, 12:23pm_ **

_Not dead :)_

_yay_

***

Catra would never admit it, but she did get concerned for their safety sometimes. She used to think they were invincible. But then, a year ago, Angella died, and then Micah moved away, and Glimmer went from being somewhat carefree to more serious. Catra and Angella weren’t the _closest,_ but it hurt thinking about how she’d never get to hear her yell “GLIMMAAAH!” from across the room when Glimmer would accidentally mention something to Catra that she wasn’t supposed to know.

Catra wasn’t really a part of their _family._ She didn’t even know who else was involved in all their otherworldly affairs. She knew that the Bright’s little group of witches and wizards was more than just them, but Casta always tried to keep Catra away from all that. Whenever they were around, though, it was hard to believe they _weren’t_ her family. The more time she had spent with them, the more open she had felt, which was ironic considering the amount of secrets they kept from her.

It had been about 8 years since Casta had healed her and she’d woken up in her new room. Catra had no idea what exactly happened. One second she was in a car being reassured by someone who had basically kidnapped that she was safe, the next she was walking into the dining room of a goddamn _mansion_ where a boy wearing a crop top and had a bow and quiver strapped around his shoulders offered to make her a waffle. And who was she to say no to waffles?

And she’d lived with them ever since.

If it wasn’t for how damn tasty those waffles were, Catra wouldn’t have stuck around for as long as she did, she wouldn’t have ended up becoming a part of their little family, she wouldn’t have become a co-manager at their café, and most importantly, Catra wouldn’t have met Jaquan.

(Jaquan was what she named the ghost that always stole her peppermint tea.)

Jaquan was the most irritating presence in her life. They made Catra regret not appreciating Kyle. At least she could _throw_ things at Kyle when he was bothering her. Every time Catra tried to throw her pillow, her phone, or even her empty cup of tea at the shadow that Jaquan was, it would pass right through them. The worst part was, Catra could actually _tell_ that they were laughing at her misery.

Catra had to start buying extra packets of peppermint from David’s Tea, and she stuck a note against them for Jaquan to read – she learned how to write it in Casta’s weird magic language to make sure she got the point across.

_“Dear Jaquan or whoever the fuck,_

_here. here’s some of that fucking tea you oh-so love._

_i don’t know why you keep stealing mine and don’t just haunt David’s Tea Shop, like seriously do you have a crush on me or something? do you keep stealing my tea to get my attention? if that’s the case then this ain’t it chief_

_also, if you’re friends with my sleep paralysis demon could you please tell it to KNOCK IT OFF. I have enough stress in my life without it waking me up at 3am just to creepily stare at me and laugh._

_from,_

_lady who’s sick of this supernatural shit”_

So Catra ended up learning the weird language. That was an interesting conversation to have with Micah.

***

_Yes, Catra, you called?  
Is there a problem with the café?_

_nah  
although I did hire two ex-cons_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_you did what_

_Typing…_

_  
I want to learn how to write in that funky language  
yknow, the one that u were speaking in when u got possessed?_

_CATRA._

_  
oh sorry. i mean when ur allergies started acting up and made ur eyes turn black and made ur throat so sore u sounded like Beelzebub n u choke-slammed me against the wall without touching me_

_Typing…_

_I’ve apologized for that a thousand times now, please let it go_

_And more importantly_

_Typing…_

_DID YOU HIRE YOUR SQUAD OF WE-HACK-INTO-GOVERNMENT-DATABASES-FOR-FUN TO WORK AT THE CAFÉ_

_Typing…_

_whaattt noooo of course not_

_Typing…_

_  
its not a “squad” lmao im not bow  
first of all, you have no evidence  
second of all that’s not what Entrapta was arrested for ;)_

_Typing…_

_  
oh and the dude I hired isn’t actually my friend  
sea hawk was arrested for arson_

_Typing…_

_YOU HIRED SOMEONE WHO WAS CONVICTED OF ARSON TO WORK IN OUR FAMILY’S SHOP  
THE ONE WE STILL DON’T HAVE INSURANCE FOR  
THE ONE THAT IS PRACTICALLY OUR MAIN SOURCE OF INCOME_

_Typing…_

_LISTEN  
IT DOESN’T MATTER  
YOU HAVE LIKE A MILLION DOLLARS  
JUST TELL ME  
HOW DO I LEARN HOW TO WRITE IN THAT WEIRD FUCKING LANGUAGE?_

***

The language – Eternian – turned out not to be _too_ different once Catra actually started learning how to write in it. It was written with branches, and its letters translated directly into English. It made Catra wonder how and why this language was even created in the first place.

It took Catra five days of all-nighters to get enough of a grasp on the sticks, dots, and branches to write her strongly worded letter to Jaquan, but Catra was nothing if not full of spite and determination. And it _worked._

Jaquan took the note and the tea and left another note in its place. It took Catra about thirty minutes to decode it.

_“my name is Jim”_

***

**_1:37pm_ **

“What’s up with you today, Razz?”

Razz looked happier than usual. She was always in a good mood when she came in to order, but she looked more chipper than usual.

“Razz’s hard work has started paying off, dearie!” Razz chuckled. “I’ve almost got her!”

“ _’Got her’_ in a good way, or a bad way?”, Catra asked, preparing Razz’s donut and macchiato to go.

Razz tapped her fingers against her broomstick and hummed thoughtfully. “Ah, only time can tell if the consequences of one’s actions have good or bad outcomes.”

Sometimes Razz would say meaningful stuff like that. Catra held onto those moments and never forgot them. But sometimes Razz would also say things like, “Razz opened a gate to hell in the living room and all the pixies ran away, would you be a dear and make Razz something that will keep that might help those sweet pixies find their way back home?”. Catra tried not to let her mind wander over those moments that much when she was laying in bed at night.

“Say, Razz, before you go, how’s Adora doing?”

“She-Ra is fine.”

“What?”

“She-Ra is fine, She-Ra is going to help get her,” Razz said excitedly, picking up her order.

 _Okay,_ Catra thought as Razz dropped a hundred in her jar. _Maybe Razz kidnaps people? Maybe that’s what she’s known for in the magical community? And She-Ra, slash, Adora, is one of her henchmen?_

_Oh shit. Do I ~~have a crush on~~ know someone from the magic Mafia?_

Catra thought of Adora, sweet, gentle Adora who tried her hardest to get that cup off of Catra’s hand without hurting her, dressed in all black, sitting on top of a rooftop in the middle of the night, sighing as she took a drag from a lit cigarette and shot someone with a silenced sniper, then leaving the rooftop and effortlessly taking down some thugs that were trying to kill her.

Then Catra thought of trying to start up a petition for someone to find a cure for her disease because she realized she had spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about how fucking hot that would be.

***

Catra woke up at 3am. She couldn’t move her limbs. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her sleep paralysis demon in the dark corner of her room. She tried to mumble out, “Fuck off, you arrogant prick,” but her voice wasn’t working.

Something was different, this time. The demon was approaching her, closer than it had ever come before, malicious intent clear in the way it was creeping near her bed. Every other time Catra would encounter a demon or a ghost or any entity that didn’t really have a physical form, it would always only _barely_ register in her mind, and it would look like it was glitching in and out of existence. This time, however, Catra could see every detail of the creature’s spider-like body, make out every one of the features of it’s ghoulish, devilish face.

Her breaths quickened. Casta wasn’t here to help her, and even if she were, Catra could barely squeak out _fuck you,_ let alone scream for help. The demon was now climbing onto the foot of her bed. For the first time since Shadow Weaver, Catra felt _scared._ Scared that she couldn’t possibly defend herself against this threat. Scared that no one would know what happened to her.

Then something truly bizarre happened.

She saw not-Jaquan tackle the demon. It was mostly a blur, since one was a shadow and the other was basically a spider on steroids, but she could tell that not-Jaquan was putting up a hell of a fight. The shadow disappeared, and with it, the demon.

Catra felt herself falling back asleep. She shifted into a more comfortable position, having gotten control over her limbs again.

“Thanks, Jim.”

***

**_4:57pm_ **

Sea Hawk had pretty much missed the entirety of his shift. He _finally_ came bursting through the front door holding a Febreze bottle, then leapt straight over the counter and hid behind it.

“Hey, Lake Seagull!” Catra fumed. “Mind explaining where the hell you’ve been?”

Catra was ready to go full boss bitch mode on him and chew him out for arriving three minutes before closing time, but he grabbed her wrist and yanked her down so she was _also_ ducked behind the counter and out of sight from anyone who might enter the shop.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing?” she seethed. She was having a _hell_ of a day already. First, her phone fell into the sink, rendering it completely using. Then, her car wouldn’t start, so she had to walk all the way to work. The tablet crashed on every other order and she ended up having to switch Entrapta to the register while she worked on installing their new ice cream machine, which was functioning just about as well as a fourth year student on their fifth Red Bull of the day. When Entrapta’s shift ended, and Catra was left alone, she accidentally locked herself in her office, and it wasn’t until Razz arrived that the lock just ‘happened’ to get unstuck. Then, when Catra could finally go home and have the day be over with, she ended up having to cover Sea Hawk’s shift because he was nowhere to be found. Catra was fucking _done_ for the day and didn’t want to be involved in whatever most likely illegal activity he had gotten into that was requiring him to hide.

She tried to stand up so she could yell at him _properly,_ because being next to him on the floor was _not_ the way she pictured it in her head, and she needed him to stick to the imaginary script that existed in her head of how this interaction was _supposed_ to go.

Sea Hawk made a _shh!_ sound and pulled her back down.

“Did you just _shush_ me, you – “

The bell jingled before Catra could pick an insult. It couldn’t have been a customer, as they were past closing time now, and thankfully the area Catra lived in was full of people that understood that even if the lights were open, they were _no longer open for business._ And it couldn’t have been human, because of the way it was thumping around and groaning. Whatever it was didn’t approach the counter, and instead went over to the tables and booths, stomping its not-feet, searching.

Sea Hawk clamped his hand over Catra’s mouth and whispered, “You might want stay down for this part, m’lady.”

He then reached inside his jacket and pulled out what Catra recognized was his second favourite lighter. It pissed Catra off because she very clearly remembered helping Mermista steal it from him, but apparently Mermista had caved and given it back to him. Before Catra could remind him to be careful because they didn’t have insurance, he stood up and launched himself back over the counter.

“Halt, you fear mongering villain!”

_Really?_

Sea Hawk made a few more horrible “quips”, and Catra heard the thing grunt and growl in anger. That didn’t concern her as much as the sound of the lighter flicking on did. Catra waited until the sounds of fire and howling were over before standing up and leaning over the counter. Whatever it was, it was gone. The only evidence that something else had ever existed in the room was a pile of ash. Sea Hawk was standing in front of it in a victory pose, singing one of his ridiculous shanties. He turned around and saw Catra glaring at him.

“Explain.”

Sea Hawk cleared his throat nervously. “You see,” he started, “I sort of made a promise to my Princess that I would _never_ reveal – “

“You know what? Never mind. I don’t actually give a fuck. You’re closing up by yourself, I’m going home.”

She mentally added _Sea Hawk_ and _Mermista_ to the list on people in her mind that were more or less aware of the supernatural.

Catra grabbed her bag and keys and made her way out of the door. She glanced at the pile of ash.

“Remember to clean that shit up.”

***

Catra thought that after that night of Jim throwing it down with her sleep paralysis demon, she wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. But there it was, waking her up at 3am once again. Catra wasn’t scared this time, because, well, it was kind of hard to be afraid of something once you see it get punched in the throat by a shadow. Besides, Jim appeared a few seconds after the demon did, they had another fight, Jim won, and Catra was fast asleep in seconds.

***

“What do you want now, Sparkles?”

 _“Hello to you too, scum.”_ Despite the insult, Glimmer sounded ridiculously cheerful.

“You sound happy. What? Arrow Boy finally get the balls to ask you out or something?”

Glimmer laughed again, carefree and delighted, a way Catra hadn’t heard her laugh in months.

_“Something like that. But that’s not why I’m happy. Or why I’m calling.”_

“Listen, glitter, my phone actually isn’t working right now, and I had to steal one of your old iPhones from the basement, and you _know_ how much I hate Apple products. I need to go to the repair shop because I have a lot of important shit on _my_ phone, so unless you’ve called to tell me something life changing, I don’t care.”

_“Shut up, Applesauce, this is important.”_

“You promised to never mention Applesauce again.”

_“So? I promised to call Casta every day when we moved. Hitler promised to never invade Czechoslovakia. People lie, Catra.”_

“Listen here, you little shit– “

 _“SHUT UP AND LISTEN! We are coming back._ All _of us, we’re coming back home.”_

“…Really?”

Glimmer giggled. _“Yes. Everyone. We’ll be back in five days.”_

“Wow. Okay.”

Catra was silent for a couple moments, a smile growing on her face. She felt exactly how Glimmer sounded. It had been over a month since Casta had left, and even longer since Micah, Glimmer, and Bow had moved to “New Castle”. She had missed them more than she thought she would. But she would never admit it.

“You know, you could’ve just texted me. You just wasted, like, two minutes of my life. I could’ve been halfway to the repair shop by now.”

_“Oh, fuck off.”_

_Click._

***

**_12:04pm_ **

A plate fell and broke. “THAT BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN THE CHINA,” Catra shouted.

Catra wasn’t sure what Jim had gotten themselves into, but they were having a fight with someone. For being the most non-threatening supernatural presence in her life, Jim sure could kick ass when it came down to it. Catra couldn’t leave because she was currently hiding underneath the table, the safest place in the room at the moment.

Catra did her best to ignore them at first, but the longer the fight lasted, the more danger Catra seemed to be in the middle in. One of them pushed over a shelf, why though, Catra had no idea, they were _intangible_. Maybe they needed to become tangible to kick each other’s asses. She would ask Jim later.

She didn’t want to leave the two ghouls fighting without supervision, what if they broke the chandelier or something equally expensive? Catra didn’t have access to the Bright’s backup bank account, and she couldn’t afford it with the money earned from the café.

Despite how evasive ghouls could be, these two were _incredibly_ messy. So many walls were punched hard enough to dent, so much glass was broken, there was random, _heavy_ furniture being thrown around every room, and for some reason, the fight seemed to follow Catra into any and every room she went into.

She had no idea how long she had been curled up underneath the table for, but at some point she heard the wood of the table creaking and splintering. Catra scrambled to get out from underneath the table, but it was too late – it broke in half above her. The kitchen window the table was against broke, luckily the shards of glass broke outwards, and Catra figures that was the end of the fight. Jim came back in, and they moved the remnants of the table off of her, freeing her from underneath the rubble. Then, they promptly disappeared, probably to go thoroughly mess up some other fool’s home.

Catra groaned and pushed herself up. Thankfully, she hadn’t gotten seriously injured, but Catra could tell that she was most definitely going to have a couple bruises tomorrow. Her lower back was in pain from being hunched beneath the table for so long. She dragged herself out of the house, thinking about how she had to clean up the whole mess caused by Jim and his nemesis. She decided to head to the café, the place she was planning on going to before those thoughtless motherfuckers fucked up her whole day.

Catra arrived to work a little after four. A part of her wondered if there was even any point in going. By now, Entrapta and Sea Hawk had everything pretty much covered. And Catra had finally ~~threatened~~ convinced them into not doing anything that could cause damages to the café. But Catra wanted to go in and ask Entrapta about how she handled Razz. Sea Hawk was sweeping the floor when she entered, and there was a lovely married couple sitting in one of the booths at the back, finishing up their meal and talking. Catra went to the back, into the break room, where Entrapta was sitting with two computers and her tablet on the counter, working on something while drinking an iced coffee, consuming the tiny cupcakes that Catra allowed her to snack on if they hadn’t sold all of them by 3pm. She looked up from whatever she was working on when Catra asked about Razz.

“Who?”

“Madame Razz. Kind of hard to forget? She carries around a broomstick and orders things that make absolutely no sense.”

Entrapta gave her a blank stare. Catra sighed.

“She would’ve come in at 1:34pm? Talks about portals to hell?”

Entrapta still showed no signs of recognition.

“She had light purple hair? Left a $100 tip?”

Entrapta put another cupcake in her mouth and went back to what she was doing on her tablet.

“Nope. I can’t recall.”

Catra facepalmed. Entrapta kept track of _everything._ How could she not remember Razz? It was obvious she had come in that day. There _was_ a $100 bill in the tip jar, and no one else would leave a hundred-dollar tip at a coffee shop where the most expensive thing was nine dollars. If Entrapta wasn’t paying enough attention to the customers to be able to recollect what they looked like or what they ordered, it meant Entrapta was focused on something else at the time. And judging by the computers Entrapta had opened around her, Catra could guess what it was that she was focused on.

“Entrapta,” she said through gritted teeth, rubbing her forehead, “are you hacking into government databases again?”

Silence. Entrapta sucked on the straw of her now-empty coffee cup. “Maybe.”

“Entrapta! I told you never to hack into it again – “, Catra pulled up a chair beside Entrapta, “ – without me!”

They weren’t doing anything _too_ illegal – one day, Catra offhandedly mentioned wanting to break into Area 51, just to find out what actually went on in there. Glimmer, ever the spoilsport, mentioned that the whole “raid Area 51” thing would never work because the government had drones. Entrapta casually talked about how if drones were the only problem, she could invent her own drones to take them down. The conversation escalated from there, and it ended with Bow managing to convince them to _not_ raid area 51, and Glimmer whispering to them that there was technically no _physical danger_ if they were to break into the database instead.

It turns out, either Entrapta is the smartest person on the planet, or the government has _really_ shitty security, because Entrapta breached their servers in less than an hour. They’d been doing this ever since, and not once had they been caught. Every now and then, Catra wonders if Entrapta also has powers, because of how many times she’s seen Entrapta do nearly impossible things with her tech.

After a while, Catra was going through some of the _astonishing_ reports located in the government’s classified documents, and Entrapta was listening to some of her recordings of herself that she took throughout the day (in case she had an idea earlier, because she wanted to give every idea an equal amount of thinking time before deciding if it was a worthwhile pursuit or not). While Entrapta was going through them, she suddenly remembered Razz.

Apparently, Razz had come in, noticed that Catra wasn’t around, and left a message for her. It was written down somewhere in the mess of Entrapta’s things, and from previous experience, Catra knew it would take her a while to track it down.

Catra thought about what the message could possibly be. Razz always had something new to tell her, whether it was some advice about life, something about Razz’s work, or a joke that Razz said would only make sense in the future. Occasionally, Adora would come up in conversation.

_Adora._

Catra hadn’t seen her since she came to break the curse. It had been a week and two days since then, not that Catra thought about it often enough to know exactly how long it had been.

It was a long shot, but–

“Any chance she mentioned Adora?”

“Hm?”

“In Razz’s message, did she say anything about an Adora?”

“Oh, I don’t think so, but I _did_ see something about Adora while going over my data – “

“What? Where?”

Entrapta gestured towards the second laptop. Catra opened her notes and skimmed through, looking for _Adora –_ and she found her under “peculiar customers”.

_“ adora – tall blonde blue eyes, looked disappointed while speaking – maybe she doesn’t like me for some reason – find out why people don’t like other people for no reason – ordered one large French vanilla – stayed in shop for over 30 minutes despite having finished her French vanilla in five seconds – find out how fast someone can consume a beverage without dying”_

Adora was here. _Adora was here._ Adora had _sat down_ in _Catra’s shop_ and _waited for something_. Waited for almost an hour. For Catra, maybe? Was Adora disappointed because Catra wasn’t there? Or did Adora not like Entrapta for some reason? Maybe Adora came in and heard Sea Hawk singing, and that’s why she was feeling let down. But if Sea Hawk was singing, why did she stick around for so long? No one could stand him. The only reason Entrapta brought her welding mask to work is in case he started one of shanties – she could put it on and zone the fuck out with Sea Hawk being none the wiser.

It didn’t matter. Why Adora was here didn’t matter. What mattered was that _she was here_ and Catra was busy babysitting a fucking _ghost_ and she missed her chance to be near Adora again. Catra wanted to go back home and _strangle_ Jim. Fuck it, she would study every single one of Casta’s dumbass books, sit through Micah’s magic lessons with Glimmer, and endure Bow calling her a “cute, lovable person” for _hours_ if it meant she could discover a way to kill something _twice._

_“ **the blood of a virgin twice killed** ”_

Catra suddenly remembered one of Razz’s ridiculous orders. Maybe Razz could help her out with this. Especially if Catra was right and Razz was a part of the magical mafia. _Maybe,_ Catra mused, _I can have Razz send She-Ra after them._ Now that would be something. Adora fighting someone on her behalf.

“Ah!” Entrapta’s squeal of delight snapped Catra out of her reverie. Entrapta placed a pink folded note in Catra’s hand. “Here it is, Catra! Now, if you’ll excuse me, Sea Hawk finished closing up the shop fifteen minutes ago, and I have to get back to Emily!”

Entrapta was quick, as always, in packing up her things and getting rid of any trace of illegal activities, and she was out of the break room before Catra opened the note.

She was practically buzzing with anticipation, wondering what was so important that Razz couldn’t wait _one day_ to tell her. She opened the note. There was no difference between the way Razz talked and the way Razz wrote.

_ “Hello Catra! _

_ Razz wanted to share her joy with you! She-Ra will get her out in no time! As time has proven, the actions we’ve taken these days have had great outcomes!” _

Out? So Razz wasn’t kidnapping, she was rescuing?

Catra smiled. It seemed as though Razz had accomplished whatever it was she was doing. Whoever “her” was, Catra was glad she was getting out. And with She-Ra’s help? What exactly _did_ Adora do?

_ “Razz feels as though you would be delighted by this information, but you are not here for Razz to see if you are happy. But you should be!” _

Catra made a note to make something special for Razz tomorrow, to show Razz that she was, in fact, thrilled by this news. Razz had been working on this since the first day Catra had met her.

_ “Razz also feels you must know this:” _

Catra turned the paper around, hoping for some contact information. Instead, written in big block letters, was

_ “I AM NOT A PART OF THE MAFIA, OR ANY CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION, THAT HURTS PEOPLE, LIVING OR DEAD” _

Well, shit. Looks like Catra’s gonna have to get revenge by herself.

***

When she got back home, she expected to arrive to the mess she had left in.

Surprisingly, everything was fixed.

The furniture was back in place, the broken table had been removed an a new one had taken its place in the dining room, all the glass had been swept, and the dent’s in the wall looked as though they’d never existed.

Catra found a note written in Eternian stuck to the bottom left drawer where she kept her favourite tea.

_“I’m sorry, I won’t make a mess next time”_

Along with the note, there was also two bags of peppermint tea from a brand that had gone out of business a long time ago. Catra supposed she didn’t have to exact any revenge now. They were more or less even.

***

**_3:33am_ **

Jim and the demon were at it again. But weirdly, the fight didn’t end within a couple minutes like usual. The demon was trying harder and harder to get to Catra, to tear her apart, to eat her alive, to drag her to hell – whatever it’s wicked intent was. Jim never let it get past the bottom of her bed, though. Eventually they both disappeared and things finally quieted down, and Catra could go back to falling asleep.

**_4:54am_ **

Catra was restless in her bed, no matter which way she turned she just couldn’t seem to get comfortable. To make matters worse, the demon had decided to make a second appearance in the same night. Even Jim seemed tired of it’s bullshit, if the slow-moving shadow was anything to go by. If Catra didn’t get some sleep soon, she was either going to cry or scream.

**_6:11am_ **

_I’m going to fucking cry._

**_9:12am_ **

Her car wouldn’t start. Again.

”Are you fucking with me right now?” she hissed, turning the key again and again. There was no goddamn way Catra was going to walk all the way to work. In the state she was in, she would probably collapse somewhere and end up concerning a bunch of random people that were trying to get to work. That, and the fact that she had made a pie for Razz that she’d rather have Razz enjoy and not some crackhead that would steal her food while she was asleep.

She called Entrapta to let her know that she had to open the café, as Catra needed to do some research into how to exorcise demonic creatures.

“That’s it. I’m stealing Casta’s.”

**_10:43am_ **

Catra walked into Bright Moon, went to the back, and dropped into her office chair.

It broke beneath her.

She exhaled deeply. “If one more stupid fucking thing happens to me today, I’m going to set something on fire.

“Er, Catra? Is everything alright?” Entrapta called out, uncertain whether she should come and check on her oldest friend. Well, second oldest if you counted Emily.

“Entrapta,” she huffed, “I’m going to sleep now. Preferably for the next few hours. Unless someone is _dying_ or _dead,_ do NOT wake me up.” Catra closed her eyes and zoned out, letting her fatigue take over her body.

**_1:00pm_ **

Entrapta was poking her.

Catra cracked open her blue eye. “Who died?” she rasped.

Entrapta looked outside her office, placing her hand on her chin, thinking. “Well, no one yet, but Sea Hawk did just walk in holding a highly flammable device, and I thought you might want to know.” She looked back at Catra, who had both eyes open now. “I’m not sure if someone will die, but according to my data, Sea Hawk is the most likely one to hurt someone by accident out of us three. You’re the most likely to hurt someone on purpose.”

Catra would find out what other data Entrapta had on people later, but she had to go find out why Sea Hawk was about to commit arson, and make sure he didn’t do it anywhere inside or near the shop.

“For the _last time,_ CJ, I don’t CARE how awesome it would look to walk away from an explosion, we _are. Not. Setting. The. Boat. On. Fire._ ” Catra had heard them have this conversation plenty of times before. Mermista would lose. She was currently sitting in one of the booths, rubbing her temple, and looking like she wanted to either drown herself or Sea Hawk. So she looked pretty much the same as always. Frosta, a kid that had taken a liking to their cupcakes, was sitting a couple feet away, looking thoroughly interested in the scene before her.

“But, my dear _Mer-mis-taaaa,_ just think of how absolutely _dashing_ I would look, walking towards you, a boat in flames behind me – “ Sea Hawk had placed one of his legs on top of the table Mermista was sitting in, in his hand he was waving around a Molotov cocktail, “ – the smell of the ocean mixing with the smell of ash!”

To Catra’s horror, Mermista seemed to be considering it.

“NO! No!” Catra took a deep breath as everyone turned their attention towards her.

“Mermista, _you_ need stop _simping_ for this himbo and giving him permission to set things on fire!”

Mermista averted her gaze, blushing.

“Sea Hawk, give me that _fucking_ bottle!”

Catra yanked it out of his grasp, he watched her leave with it and made a noise of objection. 

“Frosta, I _saw_ you snatch that lighter from his back pocket, hand it over you little gremlin.”

Frosta took it out of her pocket and placed it in Catra’s hand.

“Entrapta!”

Entrapta jumped. Catra was silent for a moment.

“I wanna know what other data you have on all our regulars.”

**_1:32pm_ **

Catra smiled, knowing Razz was about to make her entrance soon. Maybe she could ask Razz about the demon. There was a 50/50 chance Razz would give her actual advice, and not just some weird anecdote that “shall reveal its purpose to you soon, dearie.”

Catra was also excited to give Razz her congratulations gift. She went to go get it from her office.

The bell jingled. Catra walked back out to the counter.

“Hey, Razz, I’ve got a little something for– “ Catra’s voice died in her throat. Standing in a crop-top hoodie and shorts, breathing heavily, clearly having just run a couple miles, was Adora.

“You,” she breathed. Adora turned her head towards Catra, and she absolutely _beamed_ at her.

“Hey, Adora.”

As if it were even possible, Adora grinned even wider.

“Catra! Hi! Where were you?” Adora spoke with _so much_ joy in her voice, it was nauseating. How could someone possibly be _that_ cheerful for no reason?

 _She would get along with Perfuma._ Catra chuckled to herself. Actually, Adora, Perfuma, Bow, and Glimmer could all probably form some sort of alliance of optimists.

Catra had apparently been quiet for too long, long enough for Adora to think she had said something wrong, because Adora went from cheerful to embarrassed and nervous as she stuttered out “I- I mean, its not like I want to know where you are every day or anything, and like, I know it’s not really any of my business where you go to when you’re not here, or even when you _are_ here, haha, L O L.”

Catra stared at her, dumbfounded. Then she burst into laughter.

This did not help with Adora’s nervousness whatsoever, because the longer Catra didn’t respond, the more she kept rambling on.

“Adora!” Catra had walked around the counter and clamped her mouth shut. “It’s _fine._ I promise. I was at home because I had to make sure the two ghosts fighting in my house didn’t cause too much havoc,” Catra couldn’t stop herself from saying this next part, “and for the record, I’ve been wondering where you were, too.”

Adora’s eyes widened, and she looked like she wanted to ask a million questions, so Catra removed her hand from her mouth. While taking her hand back, for some reason, Catra’s body, the absolute _traitor,_ decided to tuck a strand of Adora’s hair that had gotten loose behind her ear.

Adora froze for a second.

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit why am I like this–_

Thankfully, the lights around them flickered, providing Catra a perfect excuse to tear herself away from Adora’s gaze.

“Um, I should probably, uh, check that out.”

Catra left Adora there without waiting for a response, quickly moving behind the counter and going to the back where the circuit breaker was. For some reason, the assholes that designed Bright Moon placed the breaker 10 feet above the ground. Of course the Bright’s didn’t make it easy for humans to work in their little shop! Honestly, Catra should sue them for not providing the proper accommodations. Actually, Catra could sue them for a lot of things – she filed that thought away in her mind for later. Catra had to pile up some boxes and climb them to reach the breaker.

She was just going to turn it off then back on. If they had more problems with the lights, she’d get Entrapta to take a look at it. When Catra turned it back on, a flash of electricity hit her arm. Her entire body went numb. Flashbacks of Shadow Weaver’s hold on her caused her to stumble, and Catra went tumbling down.

“ADORA!”

Catra flinched, fully expecting to have fallen into a pile of empty boxes, having broken a bone. Instead, she felt two strong arms surrounding her. She opened her eyes and saw that somehow, despite being nowhere near her, Adora had caught her and was now carrying her bridal style.

“Uh, you called for me.” Adora mumbled, staring into Catra’s eyes.

Did she? Catra remembered shouting _something_ in panic. Did she really call Adora’s name? Had Adora really heard her?

 _Adora ran across Bright Moon because she heard me call for her._ Wow. Okay. Maybe Catra had a chance.

“Do you want to get a drink?” Catra asked her, wrapping her arms around Adora’s neck.

Once again, Adora froze, and Catra immediately recoiled. Okay, maybe she _didn’t_ have a chance? Was Adora even into girls? Sure, she got all cute and nervous around Catra, but maybe Adora just had anxiety and Catra had read too much into it.

Adora seemed to sense Catra’s hesitation, because she suddenly said, “Just so you know, I listen to girl in red. I also own the same flannel shirt in five different colours.”

“Oh.”

Adora slowly let Catra down and rubbed the back of her neck lamely. “As for that drink, I would, uh, like an iced tea?”

***

Adora had been pretty silent since they’d come back out. She seemed to be pondering something. Catra let her think about whatever it was she was focused on, trying to think of another way to ask Adora out, seeing as her first time had either been shot down or had completely flown over her head.

“Maybe I should come over sometime?” Adora blurted as Catra pushed a cup of iced tea towards her. She raised an eyebrow.

“Damn, Adora, shouldn’t you take me out on a date first?” Catra joked. Her disease didn’t seem to be acting up today, perhaps she could actually score a date with this goddess-like creature.

Adora stopped halfway reaching for her tea. “Yeah, if that’s what you want.” A smug smile spread across her face. “I’ll take you out on a nice dinner date, maybe we’ll catch a movie or something, and then I can come over and meet the ghosts that are bothering you.”

Catra was frozen for a good minute. Had Adora always been able to smirk at her like that?

“…unless you were kidding? You can totally say no, I won’t bother you about it if you don’t want to, I just – “

“Yes!” Catra coughed. “I mean, yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat...”

_You seriously need to start that petition._

“Great! Can I get your number?”

“Oh, I don’t have a phone.”

Adora glanced down at the iPhone that Catra had been using as a placeholder while her phone was getting fixed.

“I mean, I _do_ have a phone, I just meant, this isn’t mine.” _Say less._ “My phone is broken and I’ve been using this one. Uh, here, I’ll write my number down on your cup…”

Adora held onto her tea with much more grip that necessary. Even as she said goodbye while pushing the door open with her back, Adora was holding onto the cup like it was her fucking lifeline.

_Holy shit. Did I just land a date with Adora?_

***

The supernatural equivalent of a fistfight that Jim had with her sleep paralysis demon occurred every nigh had stopped bothering Catra. It became clear that she was in no real danger. Jim seemed to become her personal bodyguard in exchange for the peppermint tea, and they were pretty adamant on not letting anything happen to her.

In fact, it didn’t occur to Catra to mention this minor problem to Casta, or Razz, or Glimmer, or anyone with any knowledge about the other side. In the future, Catra would kick herself for not telling anyone, because all of this could’ve been avoided if she’d just _said something_.

The demon had come back, and this time, she wasn’t asleep.

***

Catra was pulling out of the parking lot, in a better mood than she was when she had come in that morning, thinking about Adora and their upcoming date.

Her phone _pinged,_ and she glanced at it for one second to determine whether it could wait till she was home, and when she looked back up, the demon that she had only ever seen in the dark corner of her room was now crouched across the road from her. As soon as Catra made eye contact with it, the demon rushed towards her, jumping onto the hood of the car.

 _Shit. This isn’t even my car._ was the last thing Catra thought before she slammed on the gas, yanked the wheel, and crashed into a tree. Something started smoking, which was never a good sign when you’re in a highly flammable vehicle.

 _Damn, maybe I should get out before the demon wakes up,_ she said to herself, looking at the monstrous figure that was lying unconscious on top of the car in a mangled mess. Somehow it was still breathing.

She tried prying open the door, but it was stuck, so Catra latched onto her bag and phone, used her elbow to break open the car window, and threw herself out from it as best as she could. She stumbled onto her feet and once she had took herself a good distance away from the car, she turned around to examine the damage.

The monster stirred, and it started to pick itself up, it’s limbs creeping back into place.

“Oh, _fuck_ no!” Catra yelled. She reached into her bag and pulled out the lighter and bottle she had confiscated from Sea Hawk. She lit the end of the alcohol soaked rag, and launched it towards the car. It landed in the front seat, and the demon stared at it, then looked at Catra, and a part of her was very satisfied that the last thing this demon saw before being blown to smithereens was the smirk of Catra’s face.

_Well. Guess that’s one problem taken care of._

At this point, Catra had a decision to make. She could head back to the café and make a call, either to the police or a cab company she didn’t know, or she could head back home and pretend this had never happened. Maybe calling the police was the “right thing to do”, but Catra was tired as fuck so she decided to go back home and go to sleep.

She should’ve done the right thing, because while taking a shortcut from behind a closed supermarket, she found herself face to face with someone pointing a gun towards her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skjdkjsdksjd i PROMISE i will make up for the lack of adora in ch3 <3
> 
> ok sooo here's some stuff abt ch1:
> 
> -that WAS a kronk reference lol, I wasn't planning on putting it in there, I had a different interaction in my mind, but then I wrote that and it ended up being cuter than what I originally planned. I wasn't expecting ppl to rly care abt it but you guys seemed to enjoy it? lmao thank u
> 
> -the horde trio will NOT be making a comeback in this fic, but don't worry they didn't get devoured! kyle and lonnie ran out the door, and rogelio climbed out the window of his room and caught up with them. they're living together in this universes equivalent of the Crimson Waste and they never went back for catra bc they think shes dead lol
> 
> -magic IS a very well kept secret, its just that for some reason supernatural things somehow find themselves drawn to catra for reasons ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
> 
> -catra has been through some ridiculous shit and nothing surprises her anymore. her reaction to everything is pretty much the same reaction we all had when the pentagon confirmed ufo's, she's just like "ok yea, thats cool" to every inconvenience and doesn't give it a second thought (WHICH IS IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT!)


	3. a bagel (NO!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra's daydream comes true. (sort of.)
> 
> ***
> 
> "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
> 
> She looked terrifying.
> 
> ***
> 
> Catra realizes something very important about herself and Adora.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Didn't. Didn't you die?"
> 
> "It didn't take."
> 
> ***
> 
> Someone surprises Catra.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Meet Swift Wind!"
> 
> "Hello, Swift Wind."
> 
> ***
> 
> Well. As surprised as Catra can really get nowadays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sdjlskjs this update is so fucking late im sorry 
> 
> it took longer than planned but uh. i accidentally deleted half of ch3 and re-writing it was going horribly. and like. if i have to choose between posting something shitty or posting nothing imma go with nothing yknow???? 
> 
> okay enough of me now
> 
> here's ch3 aka  
> "Catra has a good night (fckin finally)"
> 
> (this is what adora was wearing ch2/3 
> 
> https://twitter.com/gingerhazing/status/1243024359956062210)

“Give me your bag!”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll shoot!”

Catra cackled. “Alright then.” She had just blown up a car and killed a monster, this guy was _nothing._ He wasn’t even holding the gun properly! He was gripping it too tightly, using only one hand, and he wasn’t standing in proper position, the position that had been taught to Catra by Bow when he was experimenting fighting with weapons more effective than arrows. “Do it, bitch.”

The guy lowered his gun. “You _want_ me to shoot you?”

Catra sighed.

“Obviously I don’t _want_ you to shoot me, but if you’re gonna do it, just do it! God, I hate when people don’t follow through.”

The guy raised his trembling hand again, clearly more terrified of the thought of having to shoot than Catra was of the possibility of getting shot and bleeding out in some alley. Catra decided she had had enough of this. It was getting late and this attempted robbery wasn’t interesting enough for her to play out any longer.

Catra ducked out of the way of his line of fire, used her left hand to grab the barrel of the gun and her right hand to karate-chop his wrist to make him let go. She pointed it back at him for a second and watched as he became alarmed. She used his momentary panic to raise her leg and slam her foot into his abdomen and send him tumbling back. Then, with all her might, she flung the gun over the market and heard it clatter somewhere on the roof of the small building.

She looked back at the man that was now holding his chest in pain.

“Look, a little advice?” Catra walked over him, ready to make a break for it in case he tried to make a grab at her, “Next time, don’t rob someone that’s got nothing to lose.”

As Catra was walking away from him, two more guys emerged from behind the dumpsters. _Well, fuck._

The guy that was closer to her tried to tackle her to the ground. Catra moved out of the way and pushed him into the wall of the narrow passageway. The other guy was pulling something out of his jacket, which Catra took as a cue to _get the fuck out,_ but at the same time, one of them yanked her back by her arm and threw her against the wall, _hard._

“ _Ow._ Yep, that’s a concussion,” Catra touched the back of her head, and she felt something warm and sticky. She forced herself off the wall and tried to get a good look at the three men that had surrounded her, but her head was spinning, and she staggered back towards the wall to balance herself.

“Look, guys,” Catra slurred, “ya promised to _shoot_ me, not _throw_ me…” Catra felt bile rising in her throat. She leaned over and vomited. “Tha’s a bit fuckin’ rude, y’know…” she slid down the wall.

One of the guys, she assumes the one that threw her against the wall, leaned down in concern.

“Uhh, are you good?” he said in a concerned tone. The third guy, who was holding a knife, huffed and kicked a rock at him.

”No shit, Sherlock! You slammed her against the wall!”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“ _Yours!”_

Sherlock got back up, apparently ready to argue his case, and Catra was about to let herself drift into unconsciousness, when she heard her iPhone start to ring. She felt around her bag for it, and answered it immediately, not bothering to read who it was from as the light made her headache 1000x worse. She tried to stammer out a greeting with as much effort as she could.

“Hey-o, ‘tis Catra… I’m uh, kinda, busy? C’n call ya ba- _chhh,_ later…”

Someone on the other line made noises of concern. Stabby and Sherlock, who were supposed to be mugging her, were arguing with each other, yelling at the new guy about losing their gun, and all their voices were sort of blurring into one again…

_Don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep. You will die! Or get robbed! Do not fall asleep!_

Catra was _so glad_ her dumbass body fought to keep her asleep despite her mind wanting to call it quits.

A woman shouted from the entrance of the shortcut, and her muggers all turned their attention towards the corner of the supermarket.

Adora was standing there, in the same hoodie and shorts she’d been in earlier that day. But something about her looked different. _She seems, taller? And stronger?_ Her hair, which hadn’t seemed that long before, was billowing in some non-existent wind. The gold outline of her hoodie was glowing. Was Catra losing her mind or was _all_ of Adora glowing?

She looked pretty.

She also looked pretty terrifying.

“What the hell do you guys think you’re doing?” she hollered across the alley. Catra could practically feel the fear radiating off the men.

Catra managed to keep her eyes open enough to watch as Adora got closer to them in a few strides of her long legs, legs that definitely weren’t that long when Adora had caught her that evening.

The new guy that Catra had knocked down took off. Stabby rushed at Adora and drove his knife into Adora’s right arm. She didn’t even flinch.

He let go of the knife and stumbled back. Adora glanced at the knife with surprise, like she wasn’t expecting something to be sticking out of her.

“Are you gonna want this back, or?” she gestured towards her arm. Stabby stood completely still.

“Nah, nah you can keep that, um, I’ll uh, get a new one…” he sounded like the “do-you-ever-have-a-dream-that-you-could-go-and-like-do-and-um” vine that always made Catra want to commit war crimes because of how frustrating it was.

“Good.”

She used one hand to pick him up and lob him across the street. He collided with the guy that had took off earlier and they both flopped onto the concrete.

Adora knelt before Catra. She regarded her in concern for a moment, taking notice of the blood that stained her hands and the vomit that Catra could feel on her face. Of all the times Adora could’ve seen her outside of work, _this_? Catra coughed, her body rocked forward, towards Adora. Adora sharply inhaled, having seen the back of Catra’s head, which felt to Catra like it had been split open. Adora laid her down against the wall again.

Adora’s face went from concern to fury in a _second_. Her eyes went from the dull blue-grey that Catra definitely hadn’t memorized to a bright, steely blue full of determination as she stood to face Sherlock.

“You did this?” she said in a low voice.

Sherlock stumbled back. Why he hadn’t run, Catra would never know.

“Uhm. Sorry?” he said weakly.

Adora took two, three slow steps towards him. Sherlock gulped.

Catra felt herself slowly losing consciousness again.

_No. No, no! I wanna watch Aphrodite knock Sherlock the fuck out.._

Weakly, she called out for Adora.

She blacked out for a little while. When she woke up, Sherlock and the rest of the guys were gone. Adora was _Adora_ again, not that stupidly tall and powerful – _so that’s She-Ra_ , Catra assumes – and she was once again cradling her head like she had done when she came to remove the curse a week and three days ago (but who was keeping track of that?). She felt a warm light surrounding her head, easing her pain. When Adora let go, she no longer felt nauseous, or dizzy, but for some reason, her headache was still there.

Adora’s magic felt different than Casta’s.

Catra didn’t know if it was because Casta had never healed one of her concussions before, but Catra had _never_ felt magic like this before. The best way she could describe it was, Casta’s healing light felt like shoving your cold feet into warm socks straight from the dryer, but Adora’s healing light felt like crawling back into bed after turning off your alarm. Casta’s magic felt _nice,_ felt _familiar,_ but Adora’s magic felt like…

“Hm… home,” Catra leaned further into Adora’s touch.

_Why is she staring at me like that._

Adora was helping Catra onto her feet when she’d suddenly paused.

_She’s looking at me like I just told her the secrets of the universe._

_Oh crap, did I say that out loud?_

_Fuck. I totally said that out loud._

_Nice job, Catra, fucking perfect. You haven’t even gone on your first date yet and you’ve already told her she feels like home._

Adora was still for what felt like forever. Catra was just about to give herself a concussion again so she could forget this whole thing when Adora _finally_ moved. She let go of Catra’s hands for a second, which felt fucking terrible until. _Until_ she tried to turn away from Catra and hide as she grinned, tried to hide her face as she laughed, gleefully.

 _Okay,_ Catra thought, _I’m screwed._

Because in that moment, Catra realized she would do whatever it takes to make sure Adora was _always_ smiling and laughing like that. If it meant saying “cute” shit like _you’re my home,_ call her Bow. If it meant burning down the world, call her Sea Hawk.

_Ah, shit, did I just agree with Sea Hawk?_

Catra was busy replaying Adora’s smile and Adora’s laugh and Adora’s touch that she hadn’t even registered that Adora had stopped laughing and was saying something to her. She didn’t register that time was moving till Adora once again took Catra’s hand and started walking down the alley with her.

Catra’s mind was no longer working but her body was, because somehow, someway, they ended up on her street, walking towards her home.

Catra was about to make a remark about inviting Adora to her house before their first date when Adora laced her fingers through Catra’s.

…

_Note to self: study psychology and find out a way to cure dumb gay bitch disease. You’ll earn millions._

Her disease ended up working in her favour because Adora kept her hand for firmly in place with Catra’s for the rest of the walk home.

***

“Um… thanks for uh, dropping me off.” Catra finally mumbled.

They were standing outside her house, Catra was unlocking the door.

“It’s no problem!” Adora chirped, practically skipping inside once Catra pushed the heavy door open. Seriously, how much joy could _possibly_ be stored within one person? In fact, why was Adora even _here?_ Catra hadn’t paid attention to what she was saying so she might’ve accidentally invited her over. Or maybe Adora just enjoyed her company and wanted to spend more time with her, so she’d invited herself over.

Catra unslung her bag from her shoulder and took off her shoes and jacket. She left Adora alone for a while to put her things away. When she came back, Adora was wandering down the large hall, towards the room Catra wasn’t initially allowed in when she had first started living with Casta because there were ‘important documents’ in them, which she later found out were magical books that might burn her alive if she tried to read them. Catra had been in there several times since then and had only almost gotten burned alive once.

Okay, maybe twice.

But the second time was Bow’s fault, so it didn’t count.

Adora was about to open the door when Catra very loudly cleared her throat.

Catra crossed her arms and said to Adora in a somewhat annoyed tone, “You’re not allowed in there.”

Adora ripped her hand back from the doorknob.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to pry! I’m just, y’know, trying to figure out how to help with your ghost problem!”

Ah. That explained why Adora was standing in her living room. She tried not to feel too disappointed, after all, she got to spend time with Adora either way, right? Catra rubbed her arm self-consciously and led Adora towards the dining room. Adora was still apologizing and rambling, which was really cute but Catra still had a headache and she needed her to be quiet, so when they entered the kitchen, Catra made her way to the snacks cupboard and took out a sleeve of thin mints.

“I really didn’t mean to disrespect your privacy or anything, I – “ Catra took out a thin mint and shoved it into Adora’s mouth.

“Jim isn’t really much of a problem, you know.” Catra spoke while getting out the bag of bread and some ham from the fridge. “You want a sandwich?”

“Jim?” Adora mumbled with her mouth full. “N, no thanks.”

“The ghost you’re so interested in?” Catra said while taking out a pan to cook the ham in, a little bit irked that Adora was more concerned about fucking _Jim_ than the fact that she was over at Catra’s home and no one else was there. “That’s their name.” Catra turned on the burner to cook the two slices of ham she had taken out of the fridge.

“How.” Adora swallowed the cookie and picked another one from the sleeve Catra had left on the counter. “How do you know?”

Catra hummed and turned away to put her bread in the toaster. “Oh, they left me a note in Eternian.”

She heard a rustling from behind her. Then, Adora said something in a different language. Catra spun back around, a little shocked.

“I don’t – am I having a stroke or are you speaking in a different language?”

Adora was smiling like _that_ again, like there was some sort of secret that Catra was in on. She said something in Eternian once again, and Catra couldn’t help but hang on to her every word. Okay, Catra needs to focus on something else, something other than Adora’s eyes, which were slightly glowing again. She glanced at the counter. Adora had somehow finished the entire sleeve of thin mints. Fuck. That was Catra’s last pack.

“Okay. That’s uh, that’s nice. Um, speaking of strokes, I still have quite the headache, so I’m just gonna finish making then eating sandwich then head to bed, alright?”

“Oh, alright!” Adora didn’t make any move to leave. What, was she gonna watch Catra sleep or something? “So, do you want me to stay down here or, should I come to your room with you?”

Ah.

Adora was going to sleep with her.

_No, Catra._

Adora was going to watch over Catra as she fell asleep to make sure nothing happened to her.

Holy shit, was manifesting actually a thing? Did Catra accidentally manifest Adora protecting her and fighting someone on her behalf? Crap. It seemed that Catra now owed Bow twenty dollars.

“You can sleep with me.” _No, Catra._ “I mean, in my bed. You can sleep with me in my bed. I mean. You can sleep in my bed next to me. Where I will also be sleeping.”

Adora didn’t seem to notice Catra’s slight breakdown over unintentionally propositioning her, she was focused on something behind her. Suddenly, Adora panicked and threw the top half of her body over the counter, and pulled Catra away from the burner. Catra looked back and noticed her ham had somehow caught fire.

_Ah. So my face wasn’t the only thing that was burning._

Adora scrambled over the rest of the counter and threw the burning pan into the sink. She turned the water on full blast and sighed in relief. The relief was short lived because as any normal person would know, oil and water did _not_ make a good combination when trying to put out a fire.

Adora yelped and ran around the kitchen, looking for something to put out the mini-fire in the sink with. Catra glanced at the burning pan and then back at her plate.

Well, the ham was a lost cause. Maybe Catra could just have some plain toast. Catra figured the toast was probably also burnt by now, so to avoid touching it, she picked up the nearest utensil and reached back towards the toaster. Catra was about to pick the toast out of the toaster with a fork when Adora noticed what she was doing, and nearly flew across the room, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back saying, “ _NO, Catra.”_

Catra pushed Adora away, annoyed. “What? Just let me get my toast!”

Adora gave her an incredulous look. “Why don’t you just head upstairs, and _I’ll_ bring you your sandwich?”

***

Catra had changed into her pajamas and was reading a book at her desk when Adora walked in holding a plate of PB&J. She placed the sandwich in front of Catra and went over to the bed.

Adora hadn’t wasted any time in getting comfortable. She plopped down onto _Catra’s_ side of the bed and crossed her arms behind her head and her legs over the blanket.

“So, Adora.” Catra said, folding her book and placing it on her table.

“So, Catra.” Adora nodded towards the sandwich.

Despite not liking peanut butter, Catra picked apart a piece of the sandwich and ate it. It was okay. She gave Adora a thumbs up as she took another bite and watched as her face _lit up_.

“So. What are you doing here?”

Adora uncrossed her arms from behind her head. “Um, isn’t it obvious?” Catra shook her head and picked up the second half of the sandwich.

“I’m here to protect you.”

Catra choked on her bite but managed to swallow it with Adora being none the wiser.

“Protect me from what?” Catra’s voice cracked, still recovering from choking on a piece of toast. “Jim isn’t a problem, remember?”

“The demon is.”

Catra finished her sandwich and came over to the bed. “Actually, he’s not.” She told Adora how she blew up the demon along with her car when she’d seen it earlier. Adora paled and squirmed in her place. She started to get up and out of the bed.

“Um, sorry, I guess there’s no reason for me to be over at your house, then…”

Catra poked her forehead and pushed her back down.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. Besides, what if it didn’t die?”, Catra said in a playful tone. “Or what if it’s children decide to get revenge on me? Then what would I do without you here to protect me?” You could hear the smile in Catra’s voice as she mentioned Adora _protecting her._

Catra slowly crawled up next to her, then turned out the lamp. She nestled herself into one of the pillows. Adora hadn’t moved since Catra had made her lay back down. A couple minutes ticked by, and Adora was still rigid next to her. It’s like she couldn’t relax if she tried.

She closed her eyes and shuffled closer to Adora, until her head was on Adora’s shoulder. Catra put an arm around Adora’s middle and whispered, “Go to sleep, dummy.” Adora sharply inhaled and let out a slow breath.

Catra felt Adora relax over time. Adora had moved further down and had placed on of her hands in Catra’s hair, carding it gently. Catra sighed and felt herself drowsing off.

She must’ve looked like she was asleep, because Adora began to sing. It was in the other language, and Adora was still petting her head in tune with the lyrics.

So, in a huge contrast from how she’d woken up that day, Catra fell asleep as Adora softly sung her to sleep. 

***

Catra woke up, for the first time in weeks, feeling completely rested and refreshed. No demons or ghouls had woken her up and threatened her.

Catra remained laid in her bed for a few seconds, letting her mind slowly wake up. She fisted her sheets underneath her.

_Wait. This isn’t my bedsheet._

Catra slowly blinked her eyes open and brought her hand over to her face. In her hand, she had a red crop-top hoodie with a gold lining.

What?

Bit by bit, memories of last night came back to her.

She blew up a demon.

She got a concussion from an attempted robbery.

She no longer had a concussion because…

Oh God.

Adora.

Adora had found her somehow?

Adora had walked her home.

Adora prevented her kitchen from burning down.

Adora also happened to sleep over.

Adora sung Catra to sleep.

_Oh my god._

Catra flipped around in her bed. Adora was gone. The only evidence she had been there was the hoodie Catra was currently clutching and a folded note resting on top of her phone.

“ _Hey Catra :)_

_sorry I had to run out! madame razz called abt smthn important_

_you were holding onto my hoodie pretty tightly and I didn’t wanna bother you so I just left it with you LOL :D_

_~~I’ll see you later today for our date!~~ _

_~~If we’re still on for that date, no pressure thou~~ _

_text me when you wake up so I know you didn’t die in your sleep!_

_Love, Adora”_

Catra took a deep breath and buried her face into Adora’s hoodie. She squealed as loud as she could. When she’d calmed down again, she sat up in her bed and smoothed out her hair.

Okay so.

A few things Catra had to process.

She was going to go on a date with Adora soon. Today.

Adora had _sang her to sleep._

Apparently, Adora found Catra’s rest _so_ important that she took great care to wiggle out of her hoodie without bothe–

Catra had to bury her face in her hands and squeal again because she realized something else that would plague her thoughts for the next couple of months.

Adora had left her house half naked.

***

_Hey Catra! You doing ok?  
You busted up your head pretty bad last night_

_You know, surprisingly, it healed itself  
like magic_

_Yeah?  
That’s so weird lol_

_Typing…_

_So_

_Typing…._

_Typing…._

_Typing…._

_?_

_Typing…._

_Typing…._

_Adora. What._

_oh my god. is this about the date._

_Typing…._

_Typing…._

_yes_

_Typing…._

_Typing…._

_yes we are still going  
pick me up at 5  
wear one of your flannels ;)  
and bring me a present  
(not flowers)_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_ok :D  
I’ll see you later, then, Catra_

***

Maybe Catra should’ve been more specific in her details about the date.

Adora texted her about her arrival at 5:00 on the dot. That was fine. Catra had been ready since 4:15 anyways.

Adora was wearing a red flannel shirt with black jeans. Also good. One may even argue it was great.

But Adora was also sitting on top of a horse.

“Hey, Adora.”

“Hi Catra! Meet Swift Wind.”

Swift Wind turned his head to look at Catra and huffed.

“Hello, Swift Wind.”

_Horse noise._

“I’m fine. How are you today?”

 _Horse noise_. Swift Wind turned away, clearly annoyed. Catra wasn’t aware that horses could be so _animated._ Maybe it wasn’t even a horse.

Catra fixed her bag over her shoulders and climbed on top of Swift Wind, behind Adora. “Adora, this is probably the most extra thing you’ve ever done.”

“The most extra thing I’ve done _so far,_ ” Adora informed her. She reached behind her and grabbed Catra’s hands, pulling them around her waist, “Hold on, _tight._ ”

Before Catra could stammer out an _okay,_ Adora kicked and Swift Wind took off like the, well, like the wind. If Adora’s request hadn’t done it, then the speed made Catra tighten her hold on Adora.

They rode for a while. Catra had her eyes closed for most of it. She didn’t want a bug flying into her eyes and making her tear up.

Eventually, they slowed down. Catra opened her eyes and let out a soft gasp. They were on top of a grassy green hill overlooking most of the city. Catra didn’t even know a place like this had _existed._ There were yellow and pink flowers blooming everywhere, and the tall trees provided a good amount of shade over a small picnic. Adora turned around to look at Catra.

“Do you like it?” she asked breathlessly.

Catra cackled and jumped off Swift Wind. She ran through some of the flowers, reaching out to touch them. “I _love_ it!” she yelled. Adora also jumped off Swift Wind, who walked away, doing the horse equivalent of shaking his head and huffing. Catra was still running through the flowers and picking the ones she liked the most. She looked over at Adora, who was watching her with amusement with her arms crossed, and had an idea.

She ran back to Adora until she was standing a foot away. Then she crept towards Adora _slowly,_ until her face was an inch away from the blonde’s, and held her shoulders so Adora couldn’t back away.

“Hey, Adora?” Catra rasped.

“Yeah, Catra?” Adora whispered.

Catra moved to put her forehead against Adora’s and blinked slowly.

“You’re it.”

Catra pushed her away and took off. She heard Adora call after her, exasperated, then she laughed and chased Catra.

Catra zoomed all over the hill, weaving around trees and leaping off branches that had fallen over. Catra _really_ enjoyed large, open spaces.

Eventually, Adora managed to tackle Catra into the ground. They were both breathless and laughing, Catra pushing Adora away and Adora pinning her to the ground.

“So. You caught me.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You won.”

“Yes,” Adora leaned down and her hair fell over the side of Catra’s face, “I did.”

“So? What do you win?”

Adora leaned back away and stroked her chin, thoughtfully.

“Hmm. How about you stop running around and enjoy the picnic I made?”

***

Adora had made PB&J _again._ She had also brought Catra a necklace as a present. It was a small, white crystal, attached to a thin black string. Catra had Adora tie it around her neck as Adora told her there was something special about the crystal, that she would show Catra later.

They had been talking for a while, it was mostly Catra recounting ridiculous stories about the café and weird customers she’d gotten.

“And there were these kids, I met them the same day I met your mom – “

“My mom?” Adora said, concerned.

“Razz.”

“Oh, Razz. She’s not my mom. She’s my. Well.” Adora rubbed the back of her neck. From his place eating some of the grass, Swift Wind made another horse noise.

“Aunt!” Adora snapped. Catra looked at her blankly.

“Is she really?” Catra teased. Adora hung her head.

“No.”

Catra chuckled at how bad Adora was at lying and continued with her story.

“Anyways, these kids walked in, ordered a dozen donuts and I could tell they absolutely _did not_ plan on eating them. I still have no clue what they actually did –“

“They blew them up.” Adora said matter-of-factly. “Two girls and three guys, had two boxes of a dozen right? I saw them blow the donuts up a couple streets down the day Razz went to get a drink.”

Catra paused. “But _why?”_ she groaned, falling onto the picnic sheet. “It takes _so long_ to make them, and they just blew them up _?_ And for what? _What was the reason_!?”

Adora laughed.

“Do you own the café?” she asked.

“No, but I may as well. The owners are practically my family,” Catra sighed, sitting back up.

“Practically? What about your real family?”

“I don’t know. I grew up alone, on the streets. For as long as I can remember.” Catra shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t mind talking to Adora about this stuff, which was weird because usually she was very guarded about her past. But Adora felt safe to talk to. Talking to Adora felt like talking to someone she’d known forever. “I wasn’t completely alone. I had, y’know, friends my age. And some of the older homeless people would take care of us. Most of them just taught us how to pickpocket and scam. That was my life for a while before this nice family found me and adopted me.” Catra paused and took a quick glance at Adora.

At this point, people would be staring at her with pity and concern. Not Adora, though. Adora was still listening intently, and something in her eyes showed her she understood. Catra continued.

“They’re a pretty _weird_ bunch, I’m not gonna lie, but they were also so much nicer than the people who originally took care of me. And they were always so, so cheerful _and_ happy, like all the time! Which, in case you can’t tell, I wasn’t for a lot of my life, so – and I’ll kill you if you tell anyone this – I enjoyed their _giddy optimism_ a lot. I kind of even miss it.”

“What do you mean?” Adora said, shifting herself so she was facing Catra better.

“Well, the mom died.” Catra said dryly. “You can imagine how much that dampened everyone’s spirits.”

Adora frowned. “I’m sorry, Catra, I wish I could do something.” Adora looked at the space between her feet. “I… also lost my mother. Sort of. I don’t remember anything about my actual family, but there was this woman.” Adora was silent for a moment. Then, in a more chipper tone, she spoke again.

“You know, when I think about it, she wasn’t really my ‘mother’,” Adora laughed dryly, “And I didn’t _lose_ her, she just disappeared one day. Which was fine, I guess. She didn’t actually care about me. Just about what I could do. I didn’t really understand back then, but now I know, she didn’t want _me,_ she wanted Sh– “ Adora stopped herself. She looked back at Catra.

“I’m sorry, this isn’t really first date talk.” She smiled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. She’s been gone for years now, and Razz helped me be better. She taught me how to be _me_ and not just what that woman wanted.” Adora stood up and offered her hand to Catra. “Come on, I think it’s time I show you what that crystal is for.”

***

Adora had Swift Wind drop them off outside of an apartment complex. Swift Wind walked away, to go where, Catra had no fucking clue. So, there was just some random horse walking around this area huh? She would give anything to see footage of people reacting to a horse just strolling past them.

“You live here?” Catra asked her as she was digging around her pocket for keys, skeptical.

“Yeah,” Adora unlocked the gate and led her up some stairs, “Why are you so surprised? Not all of us live in a mansion, you know.” Adora unlocked her door and gestured for Catra to go inside.

“I just can’t really picture Razz living here.” Catra sat down in the living room while Adora went to go grab something from the other room.

“Oh, she doesn’t. Razz lives in the woods.” _Of course she did._

Adora came out of her room holding a spellbook. She sat down in front of Catra.

“Okay, here’s the thing.” Adora took a deep breath. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

Catra was taken aback for a second. “Geez, don’t spare my feelings or anything.”

Adora flinched. “No, no! Not you, there’s nothing wrong with _you_.” Adora put the spellbook in her lap and reached for Catra’s hands. “You’re perfect! You’re so pretty and I really lik– “ Adora blushed and let go of Catra’s hands. “I just meant, there’s something wrong about you, like, you’re cursed.”

Cursed. Catra was cursed.

Yeah, that made sense.

“Didn’t you take care of that?”

Adora looked away from Catra. “I mean, I _thought_ I did, but um. Apparently not?” She stared at the table. “I’m _really_ sorry, Catra. I’m new to all of this. I didn’t mean to leave you cursed for this long, but I didn’t realize anything was wrong until you told me about that demon. And then you got attacked. And then you almost killed yourself while just trying to _make a sandwich_ and I just – “ Adora hugged her chest. “I’m sure there’s a lot of other stuff, too. I’m so, so sorry. It’s all my fault.”

Adora’s immense guilt killed Catra. She pulled Adora’s hands away from around her.

“Hey, look at me.” Adora raised her head a little. “It’s okay. I’m fine. And you’re not the one who cursed me, so what are you feeling so bad about?”

“It was my job to help you. I’m supposed to protect you from magical stuff like this.”

“Who told you that?”

Adora was silent. She pulled her hands away from Catra and picked up the spellbook, flipping through the spells written in Eternian.

“It doesn’t matter,” Adora said, still not making eye contact with her. “What matters right now is charming that crystal so it does it’s job. Which is to keep evil spirits away from you.”

At the mention of her crystal, Catra pulled it off her neck and handed it to Adora. Adora took the crystal from her and straightened herself. She was about to cast the spell, when she turned to Catra.

“You might wanna look away for this next part. I’ve been told it’s a little… disorienting.”

Catra leaned into her palm. “I don’t mind.”

Adora flushed a little bit then turned her attention back to the crystal.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them they were glowing again. The air around Adora seemed to shift and change. Adora spoke in a voice that _did not_ sound like hers at all. The crystal shone purple then went back to its original white colour. Adora shifted back into herself and handed the crystal back to her. She looked tired.

Adora explained to her that using magic took a lot out of her sometimes; she explained it in more detail but Catra was still shook from watching Adora perform magic and she didn’t really register anything. Catra didn’t regain control over her thoughts until Adora stood up to go get water.

_Okay, that’s enough dumbass energy for today. Come on, Catra. Summon your inner lesbian strength. Make Adora blush._

Catra followed her to the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe.

“The crystal will keep away demons, but it won’t protect you from regular stuff, like accidents or other humans,” Adora explained as she raised the glass to her lips. Catra smirked at her.

“Maybe I should spend the night here.”

Adora choked on her water. She sputtered like a fish. Catra took that as a yes and went to Adora’s room.

“Um, yes, maybe, you should do that. _Definitely_ do that. If it’ll make you feel better.” Adora called out from the kitchen.

_Success._

_Where the hell has_ this _version of her been?_

_Oh, right, it died the day Adora first smiled at her. But it’s finally made a comeback!_

***

“You know,” Catra sighed as Adora laid down next to her, “I just realized I have to go to work tomorrow.”

Adora shuffled closer to Catra. She was pouting.

“Does that mean you have to go?”

Catra resisted the urge to squeeze her face between her hands. She nodded.

Adora pouted _even more_. She put one arm around Catra.

“Can’t I just drop you off in the morning?”

“What, you’re gonna take me to my place of work on horseback like some sort of knight-in-shining-armor, huh?”

“So you think of me as your knight?” Adora smirked at her and pulled her closer.

“Nah. If anyone’s gonna be wearing armor and carrying a sword in this relationship, its gonna be me.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I – wait, relationship? Like, you wanna be my girlfriend?”

Catra flicked Adora’s forehead. “Of course, dummy. Why else would I be laying next to you in your bed right now?”

Adora looked confused. “Uh, because I can keep you safe?”

Catra laughed and buried her face in Adora’s shoulder. “That too, idiot.”

Adora lifted Catra’s head. For the third time that day, their faces were inches apart. For the _first_ time that day, Catra closed the gap and kissed Adora lightly.

The lights flickered and went out. Catra didn’t pay any mind to that and instead snuggled into Adora’s shoulder once more and let herself fall asleep.

In the morning, Adora kissed her back. They laughed and smiled and Catra didn’t feel like going to Bright Moon that day. But unfortunately, Sea Hawk had the first shift today, and Catra hadn’t given him a key to open up by himself yet. So Adora summoned Swift Wind – he was waiting right outside the gate when they left, Catra was sure Swift Wind wasn’t a normal horse – and she gave Swift Wind explicit instructions to take Catra to work and back.

“What, you’re not coming with?”

“Sorry, but Razz sent me a message that she needs me to come by urgently. I have to head towards hers. I’ll text you before I get too busy, okay?”

Adora gave her one last kiss before she left.

Catra mounted Swift Wind and he took off.

Sea Hawk was waiting outside the café door when Catra arrived. Catra took her phone out and snapped a picture of his face as he watched Swift Wind gallop away.

“Why – how? What?”

“Sorry, Pond Finch,” Catra did her best to mock Sea Hawk’s voice, “But I sort of promised my princess that I would _never_ tell anyone.”

***

_hey Catra ;)  
can you come by later?  
I wanna make sure the crystal worked_

_you don’t have to make excuses to want to see me, you know  
have you always been this bad at asking girls out?_

_shut up_

_as if you’re any better_

_shut yourself up  
and fyi  
i am GREAT at flirting_

_oh yeah?_

_prove it_

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
 _are you my pinky toe?  
cause I wanna bang you on my furniture_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_oh my god catra_

***

Razz didn’t come by that day. Catra had sent Adora three more bad pick up lines but she hadn’t responded to any of them. Catra decided she would head over to see Adora. She had Sea Hawk drop her off.

The door to Adora’s apartment was unlocked. The gate wasn’t but that wasn’t much of a problem for someone who had spent a lot of their life climbing things they probably shouldn’t, like cell towers or large trees.

Catra went inside and sat on the couch, waiting for her to come back. While she was reading her book, when she received a text from Glimmer, telling her that the Bright’s would be back by next morning, and Catra shouldn’t wait up for them because they would most likely get back by four or five in the morning.

The door opened again and someone came in. Catra watched as Adora made it about five steps into the room, sighed deeply, then promptly fell to her knees and laid down on the floor with a thud.

“Uh, Adora? You okay there?”

Adora didn’t raise her head. “Catra?” came her muffled voice. “What’re you doing here?”

“You invited me, remember?”

Adora still didn’t move. She made a noise of affirmation.

“Hey, Adora? Are you planning on getting up any time soon?”

Adora raised her head. The look that she gave her burned itself into her memory.

“No.”

She let her head drop back down with a _thump._

Catra flipped her over. Whatever Razz had made her do had left Adora _exhausted._ Catra couldn’t just leave her laying in the middle of the floor. She knew from experience that while the floor seemed very inviting at times, especially when you were tired, it would leave her stiff and uncomfortable when she woke up. Catra picked Adora up and dragged her into her room.

She took off Adora’s shoes and threw them somewhere across the room.

“Hey, Adora, lean up a little so I can take off your jacket.”

“Mkay.”

Adora shrugged out of her red coat as best as she could and let Catra pull off the rest of it. Then she flopped onto her bed.

Catra left to put her jacket in her closet. When she returned, Adora was asleep. Catra leaned over her head to carefully untie her hair. She watched as Adora moved her head around and mumbled some gibberish, half-English and half-Eternian.

“God, you are _so_ fucking cute.”

Catra was surprised when Adora cracked open one of her eyes. She picked up her head and kissed the corner of Catra’s mouth. She laid back down.

“Bye, Catra.”

Catra couldn’t stop smiling on the whole bus ride home.

***

_catra!!!  
you shouldn’t have let me sleep!  
you’re STILL cursed  
do you have any idea how dangerous it is for u?  
you could die any second!!_

[ _ fde3djr.jpeg _ ](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.256775008.1869/fposter,small,wall_texture,product,750x1000.u2.jpg)

_:)_

_Catra!!!  
This is no time for jokes!!!_

_according to you, this is the ONLY time I have for jokes  
adora, chill  
my family is coming back home tonight anyways  
they’re not too shabby themselves when it comes to magic ;)  
I’ll be fine_

_promise?_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_I promise <3_

Catra smiled to herself as she switched off her phone and closed her eyes.

***

**_8:56am_ **

Catra was grinning as she yawned and stretched while descending the stairs and heading to the kitchen. She was still getting used to getting a good night’s rest, uninterrupted by shadows and demons, and the memories of yesterday were still replaying in her mind like a good movie.

She murmured a greeting to Angella as she went to go start the coffee maker.

“Good morning, Catra.” Angella replied, reading the newspaper.

Catra was so content with herself that it took her a few minutes and her fifth sip of coffee to look up and realize that it was, indeed, Angella sitting at the dinner table.

“Angella?” Catra asked in a breezy tone.

“Yes, dear?”

“Didn’t. Didn’t you, I don’t know, fucking _die?”_ Catra asked, still in a casual tone.

“Oh, yes.” She took a sip of her tea. “It didn’t take.”

Catra stood there for a while, just watching Angella. She finished her coffee and placed the mug in the sink. Walking back to her original position, she crossed her arms and sighed.

“Angella?”

Angella finally made eye contact with Catra, smiling slightly. Catra was taken aback for a moment. While Micah and Casta had noticeably aged over the years, Angella had always looked the same to Catra. But now, the look in her eyes, the look she was giving Catra… something made her look _so old._ It may have been a couple months for Catra, but for Angella it looked like it’d been _years._

“I’m glad you’re back,” Catra confessed with as much emotion as she could. “I really, I mean, we all really missed you.” Angella’s face melted into a sad smile, and she stood up and walked over to Catra, giving her a hug. Normally when one of the Bright’s would hug her, she would make noises of disapproval until they had decided they were done and let her go. This time, Catra hugged Angella back as tight as she could.

It wasn’t often Catra got a second chance after losing someone.

***

**_9:27am_ **

_hey sparkles  
anything you wanna tell me_

_?_

_ok lemme tell u then  
I went on a date the other day, it went really well and I ended up staying over at her house  
this morning I woke up,  
had some coffee  
the usual  
oh and I just so happened to notice  
UR MOM IS FUCKING ALIVE?_

_Oh right  
I told you this didn’t I_

_NO YOU FUCKING DIDN’T_

_oh ig i forgot_

_HOW THE FUCK  
DOES ONE SIMPLY “FORGET”  
TO TELL SOMEONE THAT THEIR MOTHER HAS BEEN RESURRECTED??  
I THOUGHT I DIED IN MY SLEEP AND WAS IN THE AFTERLIFE_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_oof lmao  
that’s my bad, sorry  
this one’s on me_

_OF COURSE IT IS  
SERIOUSLY  
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU FORGOT TO TELL ME?  
ANY OTHER IMPORTANT INFO THAT JUST SLIPPED YOUR MIND???_

_oh uh_

_THERE IS????_

_k don’t be mad  
I’m uh_

_WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO_

_I’m married to Bow now_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_WHAT_

***

**_10:34am_ **

_unlock your door I just wanna talk_

_the last time you said that, you blasted me with a nerf_

***

**_10:54am_ **

_Hey Catra :D  
Glimmer asked me to ask you to please stop threatening her through her bedroom door?_

_i’m coming for you next, Arrow Boy_

_please don’t_

***

**_11:13am_ **

_CATRA I CAN SEE YOU CLIMBING ON THE FUCKING ROOF  
WHERE DID YOU GET THAT NERF GUN FROM  
I THOUGHT CASTA GOT RID OF IT AFTER YOU ASSAULTED ENTRAPTA’S BF WITH IT  
CATRA DO NOT  
DON’T JUMP ONTO MY BALCONY WHAT THE FUCK_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU_

***

**_12:23pm_ **

_micah may have saved you this time, glitter, but I’ll get your ass next time  
I may not know the time, or the place, but someday  
I’m coming for you_

_you talk a mad game for someone who’s middle name is legally applesauce_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_ v4jbhfsv.jpeg _ _  
;)_

_stop googling justifiable homicide cases on Casta’s laptop  
she’s already being investigated by the police bc of the car_

***

**_6:32pm_ **

_hey adora_

_yeah?_

_wanna meet my family?_

_omg  
yes_

***

**_10:42pm_ **

Catra was cursed.

There was a very good chance this curse could seriously harm her.

She received a text from Adora.

_I figured out a pickup line!  
hey girl  
are you from France?  
because maDAMN ;D  
<3_

Right now, listening to Bow play his lute, watching Angella lose spectacularly to Casta in a game of Uno, and pretending not to notice Glimmer and Micah playing some weird magic version of “sticks”, she couldn’t bring herself to care very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> editing is for chumps so there's probably a lot of mistakes in this chapter
> 
> me, writing the date scene: this is so cute <3  
> also me writing the date scene: this is so fucking gay what the fuck
> 
> lmk, did I make up for the lack of Adora properly??? 
> 
> "catra: My best friend's mother, who I thought was dead, just sent me this  
> angella: i lived, bitch"
> 
> i'm sorry if uh i sort of skimmed over angella coming back but A. this IS a crackfic and B. there's a lot going on behind the scenes but the main plot is still catra and her curse so lmao fuck how exactly they got her back (or lost her in the first place)
> 
> (im probably gonna write a thing abt what's going on w the bright's as a sequel/prequel, bc i swear im not just bullshitting their plotline i actually have an idea abt this AU, but thats gonna take a while to write so not gonna start it yet)
> 
> most of you probably clocked angella coming back so it wasn't rly a plot twist??? hopefully???????
> 
> ok and. abt adora and her powers.
> 
> in this AU, adora ISN'T human, but she only recently became a Super Powerful Goddess named She-Ra, and she's still learning stuff abt She-Ra (which is why she's w Razz and not Glimmer and Bow), which explains more abt the curse stuff in the next (and final) chapter (including her 'mother' who disappeared randomly)
> 
> !!!! i'm excited for the last one i hope you guys are too!!!!!
> 
> (don't get your hopes up too much, its pretty anticlimactic, but i feel like anything too dramatic wouldn't fit in w the rest of this fic, which is also the reason ch3 took so long, a LOT of what i re-wrote was just way too. dramatic and dark. which i like doing! but not in a coffee shop AU lmao)


	4. two bagels (in love)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra deserves nice things.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Why the fuck were you climbing my house at 3 in the morning?"
> 
> ***
> 
> Catra can get the nice things she deserves.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Okay, guys, Catra's cursed."
> 
> "And what of it?"
> 
> ***
> 
> For fuck's sake, she's going to be happy. 
> 
> ***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the last chapter!  
> AKA the shortest one I've written so far!
> 
> it IS really short lmao the thing is I wanted to post it ASAP bc its our favourite Catgirls bday so after I wrote the plot parts out, i didn't add that much crackiness? (don't worry there is still a good amount of crack!)
> 
> skjsdksjdk ANYWAYS thank you all for coming along for this crazy ride lol, whether you've been following since ch1 or you binge-read this whole thing at 2am in the morning after it was completed

“Okay so, we were surrounded by those _things,_ and Bow turns to me, down to his last arrow and says to me, ‘hey, if we make it out of here alive, would you wanna go on a date with me?’, so I told him, ‘Bow, if you can get us out of here alive, I’ll _marry_ you!’ And then I _finally_ managed to teleport out of there.”

Catra rubbed her eyes blearily and laid down on the couch. “I’ve heard you tell this story _five different times,_ and each time, you tell a different version of it. I’m no longer trusting you as a valid source.”

Glimmer threw a pillow at her. “I’m sorry I don’t remember all the details, scum! I was a little busy, you know, _not dying!_ ”

Catra threw the pillow back. “Stop using your near-death experiences as an excuse for your shitty memory. Just admit you don’t actually remember the proposal.”

Bow gasped from the doorway and dropped the bag of smores. “You don’t remember our proposal?”

“Wait, Bow – “

Catra cackled and took the smores from the floor. This was gonna be fun to watch.

***

_Hey Casta  
just thought I should let you know  
I’m gonna be bringing my gf over this evening after work_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Don’t say it_

_Oh my god Catra that’s amazing this is the first time you’ve ever introduced us to someone you’re interested in and you said she’s your girlfriend?? I’m going to knit her little beanie!  
Lesbians like beanies right??  
What’s her name? I’ll label it for her!_

_i KNEW you were gonna be weird abt this ugh  
nope im not telling you anything else  
you’ll find out when you meet her yourself_

_Typing…_

_Okay fine. I’ll give her the beanie the next time you bring her around  
and Catra?  
What the hell DID happen to my car?_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Don’t ask questions you can’t handle the answer to_

***

Sea Hawk and Entrapta were fine on their own. Catra didn’t have to drop in for anything other than Razz’s order, and seeing as Catra hadn’t seen the eccentric old lady in ages, she probably didn’t even need to come in for that anymore.

Thankfully, something in Catra’s head had told her to swing by the café.

“GET THE FUCKING FIRE EXTINGUISHER OH MY GOD! ENTRAPTA! DO SOMETHING!”

Entrapta ran in carrying a bucket of water. She stared in awe at how large the flames had gotten.

“ _Throw it!_ ”

She threw it – and by it, the bucket – at the table where the fire was slowly growing bigger. For someone as smart as Entrapta, she sure did have things slip over her head sometimes.

“NO!”

The water spilled over the floor, missing the fire completely. The lovely couple in the back, Netossa and Spinny, jumped at the sound of the bucket clattering against the floor and retreated further back into the shop. Sea Hawk was nowhere to be found.

_When I get my hands on that moronic twit, I am going to shove him off of the nearest cliff, save his life, and then kill him again!_

Sea Hawk re-entered the shop, pulling Mermista along with him. He pointed at the fire on the table and yelled, “There it is, my dear, the flames will not die out,” Sea Hawk twisted on his feet and kneeled before Mermista, “just like my love for you!”

_Jesus. If I don’t kill him first, Mermista definitely will._

Catra noticed that Mermista was holding a fucking trident (at least it wasn’t a spear, could you imagine how many things she’d knock over?) and when she lifted it, the water from the floor followed it’s movements, and Mermista doused the fire on the table. She let out a long-suffering sigh, waved at the people in the shop – to Catra’s surprise, Spinny waved back – and then left, tugging Sea Hawk along with her.

Netossa picked up the charred remains of her jacket and showed it to Spinny, almost accusatorily.

“This is exactly why we can’t have nice things!” Spinny comforted her wife, seeing as she’d apparently lost her favourite jacket. They didn’t seem to mind the fact that they’d just witnessed some sort of off-brand waterbending shit go down in front of them.

Why was everyone in Bright Moon so goddamn weird all the time?

***

“Do you think they’ll like me?”

Adora was wearing her signature red jacket and grey leggings. She was fidgeting with a metal arm band around her forearm, twisting it carefully, like it was going to turn sharp and cut her.

“Yes, Adora,” Catra grabbed her hand softly and dragged her into the living room. “You’d have to be pretty horrible to have them _not_ like you. I mean, they like _me,_ don’t they?”

Adora pulled Catra’s hand close to her heart. “Don’t talk about yourself like that!”

Casta’s voice also came from the couch. “She’s right. What have I told you about self-deprecating jokes?”

Casta glanced up from her book and dropped it in surprise when she made eye contact with Adora.

“She-Ra?” she flew to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhh…” Adora rubbed the back of her neck, trying a small smile at her. “Hi again, Castaspella! Um. Surprise?”

Bow ran into the room, laughing, carrying Glimmer on his back. He spun around the room before collapsing onto the couch, Glimmer beneath him. He laughed as Glimmer hit his arm and tried to get him _off_ of her. It was sickeningly sweet.

“Bow? Glimmer!?” Adora grinned.

They both noticed her standing awkwardly next to Catra. Upon seeing her, they both yelled “ADORA!” and tackled her, and by extension Catra who was still holding her hand, onto the floor in a hug pile.

“What are you doing here?”

“I thought Razz was keeping you in the woods!”

“Did you get the sword working?”

Bow kept bombarding her with questions and not giving her time to answer. Glimmer pushed herself back up – using Catra’s face, mind you – and called out to her parents, “GUYS! ADORA’S BACK!!”

Micah and Angella flew into the room soon after, Micah pulling Adora off the ground and into a bear hug. Angella smiled softly at her before hugging her as well, murmuring a _“thank you”_ in her ear.

Everyone started getting lost in their own conversation. No one seemed to notice Catra having a small meltdown, still on the floor.

_What. The fuck._

A shadow materialized over her and offered her a hand. Catra let Jim help her up. Jim offered her a cup of tea. Catra downed all of it in one big gulp, feeling the warmth spread down her throat and into her belly.

_Ah. Much better._

Jim gestured vaguely at the group of people obsessing over Adora.

“I don’t know either, pal.”

Jim did the ghoul version of a shrug and disappeared once again.

Catra cleared her throat.

“Excuse me, everybody.”

No one paid any mind to her.

“Guys!”

Catra stepped closer to them.

“HEY, ASSHOLES!”

Everyone turned back towards her. Angella chided her for her language, Catra ignored her.

“How the _fuck,_ ” Catra took a deep breath, “Do all of _you guys_ know each other?”

Bow smiled and squished Glimmer and Adora against his sides. “We’re the _Best Friends Squad!!_ ”

“Uh, don’t you need four people for it to be a ‘squad’?”

“I thought Swifty was our fourth!”

“No way. Bow, I’m not accepting this.”

“Well, who do _you_ propose as our fourth?”

All three of them looked back at Catra. Bow got _that smile_ again, the one Catra hated for just one reason. She jumped back in preparation to run away from his oncoming hug.

“No! No! Absolutely not!”

It was too late. Bow had tackled her into a hug and Glimmer and Adora had piled on top of her, much to her dismay.

_“Best Friend Squad hugs!!”_

***

“Okay, so,”

Catra had just spent the last 30 minutes or so watching the “best friend squad” trying to explain their involvement with each other without including any of the more _supernatural_ details. You’d think they’d have gotten better at cover stories.

“You guys met Adora when you moved to, uh ‘Oregon’,” Catra put air quotes around the city they _claimed_ to have gone to, “But she had to come back here to stay with her mom to complete her, um, _education_?”

“Aunt, actually,” Adora supplied, trying to keep this horrible lie going.

“And I’m guessing Adora and her _aunt_ had something to do with Angella’s mysterious return?”

“Yep.”

“And this whole time, all of us were talking to each other, and none of us had any clue we were all involved in the same magical bullshit?”

Glimmer thought about it for a second. “Yeah, pretty much.” Then she got up to help Micah set the table.

Catra leaned into Adora’s shoulder and looked up at her.

That day, Adora had said she wished she could do something. And she did.

Adora smiled at her and put an arm around her shoulders. Catra sighed.

“Thanks, Adora.”

It was a nice moment. It only lasted a few seconds, because Bow squealed _“CUUTE!!”_ , and Catra had promised him that the next time her referred to her as ‘cute’, she would break his bow.

And Catra didn’t break her promises.

(She was going to give him a new one for his birthday soon, anyways.)

***

“Okay, guys, we need to talk,” Adora splayed her hands across the table with a commanding look on her face.

They were all seated at the new table (“What happened to the dining table?” “Oh, it broke.” “…Honestly, Catra, first my car, then my table, it’s a miracle you didn’t burn the house down.” “Actually, about that…”) eating some Chinese take-out they had ordered from Glimmer’s favourite restaurant, in honor of Adora – slash – She-Ra coming to visit them, who apparently didn’t have a favourite because she loved all kinds of food.

Bow let go of Glimmer’s hand and moved himself to get a better look at Adora. He was the only one.

Angella and Glimmer were chatting about something while Casta was doing her very best to try and beat Micah at the magical version of sticks they still pretended wasn’t happening for Catra’s sake. Every time she caught a look at the four or five blue glowing lines emitting from Micah’s palm, he’d close his fist and pretend to play rock paper scissors.

Catra herself was quite content watching Adora try to figure out how to use chopsticks with the Chinese they’d ordered. Apparently, she wasn’t just focusing on how to pick up noodles, she’d actually been _thinking_ , because she looked pretty intent on getting something off of her chest.

“Guys!”

Once again, her request for attention went ignored.

Catra saw Jim manifesting over the dinner table.

“Hey, pal, do you think you could help out my girl here?”

Jim must’ve nodded, because a few seconds later, all the lights in the kitchen turned out, except for the one positioned above Adora’s head. Everyone turned to her.

“Um. I don’t uh, I didn’t do that. Wasn’t me this time, I think?”

Catra thought about all the times the lights had flickered or went out when she was near Adora. Did she make a habit of messing with the electricity?

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Catra assured Adora, gesturing towards the ghoul next to her. “That was just Jim.”

“Oh, it _was_ Jim,” Bow agreed, noticing the shadow that had manifested near Catra. “How’ve you been?”

Jim made a few gestures that must’ve made some sense to Bow, because he nodded and hummed, satisfied with Jim’s answer.

“Oh, its nice to finally meet you, Jim! Thanks, for the uh, getting everyone’s attention?” Adora cleared her throat and faced the rest of the table again. “Alright, I’m gonna drop a bit of a bomb on you guys, but don’t freak out, okay?”

Adora waited for everyone to confirm that they would stay calm.

“Alright guys. Catra’s cursed.”

Adora paused, waiting for everyone’s reaction. No one said anything. Bow checked his phone for messages. Glimmer yawned.

Micah tensed up for a second, before letting a very loud dad-sneeze into his sleeve. He sniffed and rubbed at his nose. “Sorry, Adora. Continue.”

Catra asked Jim to get her phone because she wanted to take a picture of the look on Adora’s face.

“Um. Did you guys hear me? Catra is _cursed._ ”

“Yeah, we know, and what of it?” Glimmer said, picking at a scratch that had been made in the table from when Catra broke Arrow Boy’s precious bow over it.

Jim came back with her phone, already open on camera. Catra pointed her phone at Adora’s face and took several photos as Adora’s face went from perplexed to shocked to confused and then back again. She sputtered a few times before managing to yell out, “What do you _mean you knew?_ ”

Once Catra had gotten enough photos to last her a lifetime, she turned back towards Casta and Micah. “So, you guys knew, huh? And what? You didn’t think it was of any importance? ‘ _Oh no, she’s cursed! Ah, its fine, its just_ Catra _, she’ll figure something out!_ ’” Catra pretended to ponder something. “Well, I guess I _did_ figure something out, seeing as I have She-Ra here by my side protecting me at all times.”

Casta rolled her eyes at Catra’s sarcasm. She sighed and scooted her chair closer to the table to talk to Adora. “Listen, Adora, it’s okay. We’ve known for a very long time. That curse just can’t be removed without a very risky blood ritual. However, I put a protection spell on her _years_ ago. Whatever pain the curse could’ve brought her is always warded off by my magic.”

“What do you mean _years_?” Catra asked, bewildered by this revelation. “I was cursed, like, a month ago.”

At this, everyone seemed to actually straighten up and pay attention. Micah asked her what she was talking about, and Adora sprung into action. She pulled out a binder, from _god knows where_ , and opened it up for everyone to see. She had a flow chart that depicted the events that led up to Razz accidentally cursing Catra and all the bullshit that had happened to her after.

Adora had _everything_. She even had a page of all of Bright Moon’s frequent customers.

If Catra wasn’t convinced that Adora was some sort of being made from light magic, she would’ve thought Adora was a serial killer who was planning on murdering Catra in some elaborate way that would get her featured on Buzzfeed Unsolved.

Adora finally finished it off to when she gave Catra the crystal necklace.

“…and then Catra fell asleep in my arms. That part wasn’t necessary, but I felt like you guys needed to know.”

Bow squealed again and Catra scowled. “Not a word, or I’m coming for your crop tops next,” she growled at him. He paled and raised his hands in surrender.

“I think I know what happened,” Casta said, pulling the binder towards herself. “I think when Razz gave her that cursed bill, she broke _my_ protection spell. Adora, you didn’t mess up removing her curse; you just didn’t realize that Razz had inadvertently lifted the protection spell, as well. There was no way for you to have known that she was cursed.”

“Oh.” Adora shrunk in her seat and looked at the table. “So, it wasn’t my fault?”

“Of course not!” Glimmer exclaimed. Bow placed a comforting hand on Adora’s shoulder. “You did the best you could, and if it wasn’t for you, none of us would have even known she was in any danger.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, how _did_ you find out Catra was still cursed?” Bow asked her, hand still on Adora’s shoulder.

Catra turned her attention away from Adora and to the adults. Angella, Micah, and Casta seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes.

Catra turned back to Adora, who had reached for Bow’s hand but was still staring at the table.

“I don’t..” she whispered. Catra nudged her with her foot. Adora finally glanced up at her. She relaxed a little bit at the smile Catra gave her. “I don’t know, exactly, how or when I figured it out, I just.. I felt something _bad_. It’s like, there was Catra,” Adora reached out, asking for Catra’s hand. She slowly gave it, not wanting Bow to squeal again. Adora sighed. “There was Catra, and then there was. Darkness. Around her.”

Silence.

“What, like there’s a difference?” Glimmer quipped. Catra raised her middle finger at her.

“No! That _darkness_ , it was so… Ugh!” Adora threw herself back in her chair, letting go of both Bow and Catra’s hands, sliding down in her seat. “I can’t _explain_ it. I just knew something was _off_.”

Angella and Casta stood up. “Adora, Micah can put the protection spell on Catra. We need to speak with you, in _private._ Come with us.”

Micah took her to the ‘forbidden room’ where Catra had almost been roasted like a kebob twice. This time, however, nothing deadly happened, _what a shocker_ , and it took Micah about two minutes to put a protection spell on her and send her to her room.

Bow and Glimmer were still in the living room, holding each other and talking about what they wanted in the future. Catra rolled her eyes affectionately at the newly wed couple and called out to them before heading upstairs.

“Will you two _please_ keep all that cute shit to yourselves and your room?”

Glimmer called back, embarrassed, “We’re having a moment, you bitch!”

“And I’m having a nap. Goodnight.”

***

Catra couldn’t resist. What could they possibly want to discuss? She snuck out of her room and walked down the hall to where Adora was in the midst of a conversation with Casta and Angella.

“Adora,” Casta said in a voice that Catra recognized as the same one Casta had when she told Catra about Angella’s ‘death’. It was the voice reserved for breaking bad news to someone in a gentle manner.

“When she was younger, Catra... she lived with a woman that wanted to use the innocence of children to harness some light magic to keep herself alive.” Adora sharply inhaled. “The night we found her, the woman attacked her with _dark_ magic. I cast a protection spell on her only a few hours after it happened, because knowing this woman, there was no doubt that she would’ve left Catra well enough alone. And Adora, I think the reason you could recognize there was something wrong with her is because you’ve felt that dark magic before.”

“What are you saying?”, Adora’s voice was hard.

“Adora, Catra was cursed by Shadow Weaver.” Angella’s voice came through, calmly.

Adora let out a small breath.

_Adora knew Weaver?_

Catra’s mind flashed back through her memories.

 _“There was this woman… she wasn’t really my ‘mother, and I didn’t_ lose _her, she just disappeared one day.”_

_Every day, she would be there in the morning but be gone in the afternoon. They would see her again hours later, briefly, before she disappeared again. On weekends, they didn’t see her at all._

Was it possible?

Shadow Weaver had been spending her time with Adora?

Was it possible Weaver had scarred Adora as much as she had scarred Catra?

Catra could hear Angella speaking again. She snuck away, guessing that Adora wouldn’t want her to know everything about her not-mother by eavesdropping. Catra slumped onto her bed, a million thoughts racing through her head.

Adora and Catra were connected in so many ways.

Maybe it was all a coincidence.

They were sort of raised by the same woman.

They were found/saved from this woman by the same magical family.

By the looks of things, Adora was also very unused to all this… magical crap. Although, she was definitely more open to being involved in that world than Catra was.

Razz had just wandered into the coffee shop owned by the very people she was doing necromancy for.

Razz also just so happened to have Adora around to go un-curse Catra.

How big of a coincidence could all this possibly be?

Were her and Adora destined to meet?

_Stop it, gay ass. It’s just a coincidence._

Catra turned in her bed and switched her phone on.

Coincidence or higher power or whatever, it didn’t matter. Adora was in her life now. As long as she remained in it, Catra didn’t care about ‘destiny’.

***

Catra was binge watching some NBC comedy on her phone when she heard a tapping against her window.

Catra opened the window and leaned out. Entrapta was poking her windowsill with a stick from the tree she was stuck in.

“Hi Catra!” Entrapta dropped the stick, which plummeted into the darkness beneath her. “I need a favour from you.” She looked unbothered by the fact that she was currently tangled in a tree.

Fortunately, Catra had a lot of experience with being stuck in trees. She climbed out of the window and helped Entrapta untangle her long, purple hair from the various branches it was wrapped around, then pulled the mad scientist into her room. This wasn’t the first time Catra had to help Entrapta out of a tight spot. The first time they had met, Entrapta was running from some security guards, apparently having ‘accidentally’ stolen one of their new AI bots. Entrapta hadn’t _meant_ to become attached to Emily, but Emily just wouldn’t stop following her around, so of course the only thing to do was jump into the backseat of Catra’s car screaming and have Emily ~~threaten~~ persuade Catra into dropping her off back at her own house.

She didn’t do it, of course. Catra just walked out of her car and let the security take Entrapta. It was kind of a dick move, but what else were you supposed to do in that situation? Help the crazy woman and her pet robot who was holding a knife-like object to your neck? Not fucking likely.

It didn’t matter. The next time Catra met Entrapta, she had Emily with her. Whether Entrapta inquired her legally wasn’t any of Catra’s business so she didn’t ask about it.

Entrapta had made herself comfortable on Catra’s floor and was pulling out large pieces of metal and assembling them in the middle of her room.

“Dude. Why the actual fuck were you climbing my house at 3:30 in the morning.”

Entrapta didn’t look up from where she was screwing the last piece of the square-shaped box into place.

“I didn’t wanna disturb you in case you were sleeping. And you didn’t respond to any of my texts. But sometimes you don’t answer even when you aren’t busy. And I _really_ needed somewhere to sleep.”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay, so you remember that laser I was theoretically talking about to Sea Hawk?” Entrapta set down the metal box on Catra’s nightstand and pressed a button on the side. The small circular piece on top flashed a light onto the ceiling. Catra watched in amazement as a holographic projection of a night sky full of stars appeared on her roof. “Well, it turns out my theory was right, and Emily sort of went haywire, and well – oh, happy birthday!” Entrapta gestured to the box on Catra’s nightstand.

Catra tore her gaze away from the ceiling and looked at Entrapta. She realized with a start that it was, in fact, her birthday today. Entrapta was smiling at her, sitting cross legged on the floor, looking up at Catra with an expectant look in her eyes. Catra could tell she was sort of nervous by the way her hands were twitching, obviously wanting to pull her mask down over her face.

Catra sighed. “I’ll go get you an extra blanket.”

Entrapta squealed a _thank you_ and jumped from the floor onto Catra’s bed, her hair almost curling around herself like a cocoon.

Catra definitely did _not_ smile all night while watching the stars.

***

It was quite a while of radio silence from Adora before Catra heard from her again.

_heyyy catra_

_oh, look. it lives._

_Ha, ha_

_Typing…_

_im sorry :(  
ik I’ve been sort of distant  
I just_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_adora, its okay  
I was just joking  
ik you had some stuff to think abou_

Catra was in the middle of typing when she decided better of it.

_its fine, its not like im gonna lose my mind and commit war crimes if you ignore me  
I might do that if you break my heart tho  
fair warning  
i DO know a guy and gal that are totally down to go to prison_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_lol  
ur talking abt mermista’s bf right  
i’m not afraid of Sea Hawk_

_Typing…_

_or anyone, really_

_Typing…_

_really princess?  
you’re not afraid of ANYTHING  
at ALL_

_well  
there are some things that I feel like I couldn’t handle_

_oh yeah?  
like what?_

_im not just gonna tell you!  
if I tell u my deepest darkest fear then u need to do the same _

_alright bet  
ill write it and schedule it for five minutes from now  
u do the same_

_okay_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_do i_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_do I also have to say “bet”_

_No_

_alright then :)_

***

**_11:43pm_ **

_not being able to keep my friends safe, or worse, not living up to their expectations of me and disappointing them_

_being watched by a duck, I have anatidaephobia_

***

**_11:56pm_ **

_oh_

***

**_A Week Later_ **

“There’s something I think I need to tell you.”

Adora took a deep breath. She looked so _scared_. Catra wanted to wrap her up in her arms and tell her everything would be alright. She also wanted to find the object of Adora’s fear and rip it to shreds if possible.

“I’m… not human.”

Catra was still.

“I’m not from around here, I’m from… its kind of complicated?” Adora started fidgeting with her fingers and refused to look Catra in the eye. “I know what you must be thinking. That I’ve tricked you, or deceived you in some way, but I swear, just because I’m not human doesn’t mean I’ve lied about anything else! And you already knew I was magic, right? And that didn’t scare you, _right?_ I just – I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything, so if you’re not okay with this, just say the word and I’ll go okay? I… You won’t have to see me again. Just say so. Say.. say _something,_ please, Catra, I’m kind of freaking out here!”

Catra couldn’t keep it in anymore. She burst out laughing. She crumbled to the floor with gasping breaths. Adora fell to her knees before Catra, picking her up by her shoulders.

“Oh, no!” Adora cried. “I’ve broken you! Shit, you have to go to work tomorrow, and I’ve broken you! Oh man, Glimmer is gonna _kill me…_ ”

Catra stifled her laughter at the panicked expression on Adora’s face. She couldn’t help it. She grabbed Adora’s head and brought it down to hers, pressing their lips together. She ended up breaking the kiss again by laughing.

“Adora,” she wheezed, “What the fuck is wrong with you? I’ve known you weren’t human since _the day we met!_ ”

Adora couldn’t seem to process this.

“You… aren’t afraid? Of me? You don’t think I’m going to hurt you?”

“No offense, but I think I could take you. You zone out every time I smile. All I have to do is smirk at you and you’ll go braindead for five minutes.”

At Catra’s teasing, Adora shifted back into a more relaxed state. She huffed and pushed Catra’s shoulder. “I do NOT do tha – “ Catra grinned at her, large and toothy, while climbing into Adora’s lap. As predicted, Adora froze and the lights once again flickered.

“Stop making the damn lights go out. It’s not gonna get you anywhere, I promise you that.”

Adora made a squealing noise and pushed Catra off, her face flushed red.

***

Catra temporarily moved out of the Bright’s home and into her own apartment, citing something about wanting to be away from all of Sparkles and Arrow Boy’s goofy nonsense.

The fact that it was also within walking distance of Adora’s complex did not factor into this at all.

***

_i’ve never met a human like you_

_aww  
that’s so sweet <3_

_you truly do not give a FUCK abt life  
like at ALL  
if I told you there was a vampire standing outside your house you wouldn’t even lock the door_

_Typing..._

_what would be the point? aren’t vampires stronger than normal humans?  
they’d break it down if it were locked  
if you think about it, this is actually a good decision, im not gonna pay for drywall repair lol_

_YOU WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DRYWALL IF YOU’RE DEAD_

***

Catra ended up moving into Adora’s apartment two months after that.

This also had nothing to do with Adora. Not at all.

“This is _not_ because I like you,” Catra grumbled, reaching into the popcorn while Adora was flicking through the TV, finding something to watch. Entrapta and Glimmer were sitting on the floor, putting together a puzzle.

“Oh, yeah?” Adora scoffed, draping a blanket over herself and Catra. “Then why are you moving in with me?”

“Because _somebody_ burned my apartment down!” Catra threw a piece of popcorn at Entrapta’s head. 

“You did leave me unsupervised.” Entrapta said, moving her half-finished part of the puzzle into place with Glimmer’s. “You _know_ I have zero impulse control when I’m left alone with Emily and her new lasers.”

“I left you with Adora!”

“In my defense, I was _also_ left unsupervised.”

“I hate you.”

***

_i still cant believe ur real name is CASTASPELLA  
a little on the nose much??_

_I still can’t believe your legal name is applesauce_

_Typing…_

_Typing…_

_I’M GOING TO NERF GLIMMER WHAT THE FUCK_

***

Another two months after that, they both were practically forced to move back into the Bright’s house.

Angella and Micah insisted on them moving back because they wanted their whole family together.

Glimmer and Bow announced their pregnancy a week after they moved back in, and Casta informed them later that Angella and Micah had _really_ wanted them back because those two had had some experience taking care of a magical baby, and they _knew_ that Glimmer and Bow would need all the help they could get.

They were right, of course.

Arrow Jr. had inherited Bow’s dark skin, Bow’s curly hair, and Bow’s brown eyes, but she had inherited _Glimmer’s_ tendency to teleport anywhere she wanted to, Glimmer’s desire to run around causing havoc with her magic, and Glimmer’s penchant for annoying the absolute hell out of Catra yet also being Catra’s favourite person in the world.

(After Adora, of course.)

(She would never admit it, though.)

***

**Two Years After That**

“Hey, Catra?”

“Yeah, Adora?”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“Wow, don’t hurt yourself.”

Adora huffed and rolled on top of her.

“I’ve been thinking. Glimmer and Bow have a daughter together. Entrapta and Hordak have their science experiments. Perfuma and Scorpia have their little gardening and flower shop together, an – “

“I still can’t get over the fact that Scorpia thought I was _dead_ until Perfuma introduced me to her.”

“Shh! Sea Hawk and Mermista have their whole ‘crime-fighting’ duo thing. I was just thinking. Shouldn’t we have, like, a thing?”

“A thing.”

“You know, something we can do together.”

Catra was silent.

“Okay.”

***

**Two Weeks After That**

Glimmer stretched her arms and rested against the dinner table. It was Bow’s turn to put Arrow to sleep and she was worn out from the day.

Her phone pinged with a text from Catra.

_Holy shit Sparkles  
did you see that??  
look out the window  
omg  
I’ll get Arrow and Arrow Jr out of here, you try to hold it off_

Glimmer felt panic rise in her chest. She burst through the backyard door ran out into the grass, bare-feet and with a hand full of sparkles, ready to attack whatever was threatening her family.

Glimmer felt something stick to her forehead.

Catra emerged from the shadows, holding a nerf gun.

“I fucking told you I’d get your ass someday, Glitter,” Catra fired another three shots at Glimmer’s face.

“YOU LITTLE SHI – “ before Glimmer could get her revenge, Catra zoomed across the yard and climbed onto the fence. She turned to face Glimmer one more time.

“By the way,” Catra held up her right hand and pointed to a ring on her finger. Glimmer shrieked in joy at the gold band Catra was wearing proudly. “Guess we’re even now, huh?”

Catra went over the fence and ran away, and Glimmer teleported to the front of the house, practically bursting with questions, none that she would get the answer to any time soon.

The last that Glimmer saw of her, was Catra holding on to Adora, both of them laughing as Swift Wind took off into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg its done :D
> 
> i kind of hate this chapter ngl it's REALLY anticlimactic but there's a reason!
> 
> I have decided that I WILL be making this a series and posting more abt this AU lol so if you guys want like. A proposal. Or more context for what happened in those time skips. And like, more stuff abt what exactly happened with Adora/She-Ra and Shadow Weaver. 
> 
> Ur gonna have to be patient! Skdjksjdsk sorry if patience isn’t ur thing
> 
> if ur confused abt something then you can ask me, I read every single comment (they bring me so much joy, srsly, thanks to all of you that commented), and i promise i can explain anything confusing bc once again i am NOT bullshitting this plot I have ideas in mind!
> 
> while ive got ur guys attention I would like to rec a fic to you:
> 
> Do you like yearning gays?  
> Do you like post-canon continuations?  
> Do you like MEMES? (and angst?)  
> Then may I present to you  
> "why would you ever kiss me?" by scrawnycatra 
> 
> its a LOT of angst but there's so many memes to go along with it 
> 
> (and i promise it ends happy)
> 
> anyways if you guys DO read it. pls leave a comment and a kudos and show the author some love <3
> 
> okay then. til next time an idea occurs to me at 1 in the morning and i decide "gotta go fast" and write 7k words of a fanfic when I should be sleeping
> 
> bye!

**Author's Note:**

> hey you actually made it to the end! thank you <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 
> 
> um I guess? tell me if there's something i can do better? bc idk I feel like I overexplained some parts that were unimportant and skipped over some details that should be included? 
> 
> ooooook goodbye (i solemnly swear not to leave this unfinished)


End file.
